Support will continue to be offered, Belfiore said

May 15, 2017 09:52 GMT  ·  By

Microsoft’s Joe Belfiore returned to Microsoft not only with a new energy that everyone seemed to like at Build last week but also with an answer to one essential question for many of its users.

Speaking to BI in an interview, Belfiore briefly discussed the future of Windows phones, and although no specifics were provided, he denied reports claiming that Windows Phone as a platform was dead.

“We’re going to continue to support Windows Phone,” he said (emphasis is ours), explaining that all the focus on Android and iOS is only happening because its customers are using more devices powered by various operating systems. As a result, it’s essential for the company to make it possible to connect to all services no matter the platform.

In the last 12 months, Microsoft’s involvement in the Windows phone business has been rather minimal, with no new hardware launches and small updates to Windows 10 Mobile. The latest flagships were launched in October 2015, while Windows 10 Mobile was offered as a supported update only to approximately 50 percent of its device lineup.

No specifics, but Windows Phone is not dead

But Belfiore says Microsoft is not giving up on Windows phones, pointing out that it’s only trying to become more active in the mobile world by also focusing on rival platforms.

“Windows is a platform that drives the experience on a whole range of devices,” he continues. “We live in a highly diverse world.”

Does this mean that new phones running Windows should be expected anytime soon? Or maybe Windows 10 Mobile is also getting a major update?

These are questions that nobody at Microsoft seems to be willing to answer just yet, though the answer for both of them is very likely a definitive “no.” There’s no evidence that a new Windows phone developed by Microsoft is on the radar, other than the Surface Phone that we don’t even know exists, and instead of a major Redstone 3 update, Windows 10 Mobile could just get a feature2 maintenance release.