The end of Windows phone might be closer than we think

Apr 28, 2017 06:59 GMT  ·  By

Windows phones are collapsing, there’s no secret here, but parent company Microsoft has remained completely tight-lipped until now on everything related to its mobile plans.

While more and more users and developers alike abandoned the platform, Microsoft has been doing nothing more than to reiterate its commitment to Windows 10 Mobile, without providing any specifics, but dropping hints that sooner or later it might actually give up on phones entirely.

And now, according to reports, the end of Windows phones might be only a couple of months away, as the company may be preparing the winding down of Windows 10 Mobile at the end of June.

In the financial call with analysts following the company’s earnings report a few hours ago, Microsoft has only briefly discussed about mobile phones, revealing, however, that it expects nothing more than poor performance from the mobile unit in the next quarter.

Microsoft’s Amy Hood mentioned phones just once during the company’s session on the next quarter outlook, again without providing any specifics.

“And in Devices, we expect revenue to decline with negligible revenue from Phone,” she said.

0.1 percent share by 2020

A recent IDC forecast indicated that Windows phone was powering only 0.5 percent of the mobile devices in 2016, estimating that by 2020, the Microsoft smartphone OS could drop to just 0.1 percent. This means OEMs launching phones running Windows would sell only 1.7 million phones.

Microsoft itself says nothing about new mobile hardware, even though all hopes were on the eagerly-anticipated Surface Phone. This particular model was often considered to be the hero of Windows phones, as many hoped it would reignite interest in the platform and finally bring a powerful alternative to high-end Android phones or iPhones.

The Surface Phone is nowhere to be seen and even though the end of Windows phones might be close, the most optimistic fans hope to see this particular model launching not necessarily with Windows 10 Mobile, but with Windows 10 ARM.

Developed in partnership with Qualcomm, this project brings the full version of Windows 10 on ARM chips, and is pretty much the only way to breathe life into Windows phones without keeping Windows 10 Mobile alive.