14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft’s rumored Surface Phone is one of the most anticipated products ever planned by the software giant, but without an official confirmation from the company, we don’t even know for sure that they are still working on it.
But a patent that was discovered recently by PatentlyApple (yes, an Apple blog) shows that Microsoft at least considered building a Surface Phone at some point in the last months, and the included drawings provide us with a hint about what it looked like.
Before getting into details, here’s one thing that needs to be mentioned: this is just a patent for the time being, and it’s no confirmation that this is the Surface Phone, although it does have some features that seem to point in this direction. For the moment, however, it’s safer to consider it a patent and nothing more.
Design
First and foremost, if you analyze these drawings closely, they show a phone that looks very similar to the traditional Lumia models launched by Nokia and then by Microsoft. The same Lumia design language is being used, without a physical home button and, surprisingly, without a camera button.
Microsoft has always claimed that the physical camera button was more or less a signature feature of its phones, so seeing it removed from the Surface Phone would certainly be surprising.
The back of the phone shows what seems to be a camera and flash, but no fingerprint sensor, so Microsoft would most likely continue investments in Windows Hello, which means that a dedicated camera would be placed on the front side of the device for authentication purposes.
On the other hand, it’s also possible the Surface Phone will adopt a strategy that is currently on the table for both the iPhone 8 and the Samsung Galaxy S8 and integrate the fingerprint sensor into the display. Of course, this would be the most logical step given that Microsoft wants the Surface Phone to be a revolutionary device from the very beginning, but Windows Hello would undoubtedly be a key feature as well.
Features
As far as features are concerned, these patent drawings do not reveal much, but they do show that the phone could support USB Type-C, and this perfectly makes sense, since the latest Lumia models have the same connectivity port.
There is no headphone jack, so Microsoft will probably use the Type-C port for audio as well, and this is a trend that more and more phone manufacturers seem to adopt these days.
And last but not least, the phone features what seems to be a Surface Pen slot that once again makes sense for a device included in the Surface series. Obviously, the Phone would come with its own Surface Pen, as the existing design cannot be used on such a small device, so Microsoft would most likely go for an approach that’s more similar to the stylus used by Samsung on its Note series.
The Surface Phone, if it ever sees daylight, could launch in the fall of 2017, and Microsoft has already started trial production with partner Pegatron.
