The platform will power ARM-based Lumia phones, ARM and Intel tablets

Jun 30, 2014 15:59 GMT  ·  By

Over the past few years, Redmond-based software giant Microsoft has been working on bringing its mobile and desktop operating systems as close to one another as possible, and it appears that the next major version of the Windows platform will mark yet another step in this direction.

According to a recent report coming from ZDNet, the upcoming mobile flavor of Windows will be compatible with both smartphones and tablets.

Codenamed Threshold, the OS is expected to arrive on devices in the form of Windows Phone 9, which will be accompanied by Windows 9 on desktops.

Said report claims that “Threshold Mobile” will be present on handsets such as ARM-based Lumia phones and ARM-based tablets, while also being compatible with Intel-Atom-based slates.

Moreover, it appears that Microsoft will develop the OS without a Desktop mode, which will bring it closer to what Windows Phone 8 has to offer today, and will also distance it from Windows 8.x.

By the looks of it, the company is moving toward having the very same mobile OS loaded on all smartphones and tablets, the same as Google does with the Android platform today.

What hasn’t been unveiled as of now is whether the platform will be called Windows Phone on all devices, or will sport a different name on tablets.

With the launch of Universal apps earlier this year (apps that work on phones, tablets and desktop computers alike), Microsoft clearly showed that it was working on blurring the lines between Windows Phone and Windows even more, yet specifics on the matter have been missing until now.

However, we should note that, while the source of this new report is highly reliable, there is a chance that Microsoft’s plans won’t turn out to be this way in the end, so we’ll still take the info with a grain of salt for the time being.

The one thing that is certain, however, is that Windows Threshold is coming, and that it might go official in spring next year alongside a brand new flavor of Windows Phone, which has already been said to have been included in the Threshold program.

One of the changes that the upcoming platform release is expected to bring along is said to be a unification of the app portals for desktops, phones and Xbox, yet an official confirmation on this hasn’t emerged as of now.

Most probably, additional info on Microsoft’s plans for its upcoming mobile operating system iteration will emerge in the coming months, so stay tuned to learn more on the matter.