Release to happen in stages and will take months to complete

Apr 25, 2017 05:48 GMT  ·  By

UPDATE: Microsoft has just released Windows 10 Mobile Creators Update to users in the Release Preview ring, with no word on a public launch. There's a small chance the rollout faces a small delay, though the company remains tight-lipped on this. Original story below.

Microsoft is projected to officially start the Windows 10 Mobile Creators Update rollout today, with the first devices to get it via phone update in just a few hours.

Most likely, the new OS version will be made available via the Upgrade Advisor app, which was also used by the company to provide users with the upgrade from Windows Phone 8.1 to Windows 10 Mobile. The application was recently pulled from the Store and then re-published, which could be a sign that the company introduced improvements to ensure a smooth upgrade to the Creators Update.

What’s important to know is that not everyone is going to get the Creators Update on Windows 10 Mobile devices today, as Microsoft is going for a staged release that could take months to complete.

Windows 10 Mobile Creators Update will be shipped gradually to devices across the world, and availability depends on a series of factors like region and carrier. This is why some phones will get it sooner than others, though judging from what happened in the past the wait is likely to become very painful - the Lumia Denim update, for instance, took more than 6 months to land on all supported phones, mostly because of slow carrier testing.

Only 13 phones getting the update

This time, however, only 13 different phones are going to get the Creators Update, so at first glance, the rollout should come to an end much faster. These are the phones projected to receive Windows 10 Mobile version 1703 starting today:

HP Elite x3 Microsoft Lumia 550 Microsoft Lumia 640/640XL Microsoft Lumia 650 Microsoft Lumia 950/950 XL Alcatel IDOL 4S Alcatel OneTouch Fierce XL SoftBank 503LV VAIO Phone Biz MouseComputer MADOSMA Q601 Trinity NuAns NEO

The decision to leave so many Windows phones behind is weird to say the least, especially because models like the Lumia 930 and 1520 are running preview builds just fine, with no performance issue whatsoever.

In terms of new features, there’s not much to be excited about in the Creators Update, though some improvements for Edge plus a stunning new share icon are all going to be part of the release.