14 DAY TRIAL // Now that Microsoft has launched its flagship smartphones, the Lumia 950 and Lumia 950, the company is focusing on the Windows 10 Mobile release, which should happen very soon.
However, the Redmond-based company has even bigger (hopefully) plans for next year. Many Microsoft fans probably know by now that a Surface Phone is in the works and might hit shelves in the first quarter of 2016.
Many Microsoft officials hint at such a device, but they all say that nothing is certain and that the company is exploring all options.
At the UBS Global Technology Broker Conference earlier this week, Microsoft's CFO Amy Hood offered another hint at what could be the Surface Phone, rcpmag reports (via WMPU).
“We launched a [Lumia] 950 and a 950 XL. They’re premium products, at the premium end of the market, made for Windows fans. And we’ll have a business phone, as well,” Amy Hood said.
Hood's statement is in line with previous reports that said the Surface Phone might not be what everyone would have expected: a flagship smartphone with top-tier features.
Not aiming at high-end specs
Instead, Microsoft has opted to bring many productivity features into the Surface Phone, which is why the device will sell as a “business phone.”
For what it's worth, the Surface Phone is real, and the device is already tested in Microsoft’s internal ring. We reported yesterday about a prototype smartphone dubbed as Surface Phone that appeared in HTML5test database.
Although the specs listed were pretty much wrong, at least they gave us a clue about the existence of the smartphone. And if Surface Phone won't be enough to increase Windows Phone's market share, Microsoft has a strategy that plans to enhance the OS's relevance in the mobile space.
“If the mobility of the experience is important, then we’ll probably be in that segment, in the phone, which is a premium in the business segment. It’s very funny, all the articles that have come out on how we own more of your iPhone space than we used to on your mobile phone.
“It’s because of these beautiful experiences that we’ve put together that are accruing back to Office. It’s a very good thing to have people want to use your app. That is what we mean by ‘mobile-first.’ It doesn’t have to mean we sell a phone. Let me be super clear on that,” added Hood.