Microsoft confirms that more phones will get the update

Jul 4, 2015 07:03 GMT  ·  By

Microsoft is hard at work to get Windows 10 Mobile ready in time for the big launch later this year, but meanwhile, the company is also trying to bring new updates on Windows Phone devices as fast as possible.

Windows Phone 8.1 Update 2, which debuted earlier today on Lumia 640 and Lumia 640 XL (which we reviewed here), arrived on some other devices shortly after that, including 540 Dual SIM, 735 and 830, but it now turns out that Microsoft is planning to release it to even more Lumia phones in the near future.

What this near future means is hard to estimate because the timing of Microsoft updates on Windows Phone has always been a controversial issue, especially due to the fact that, in most of the cases, Redmond rolls out these updates in waves and some devices are getting them faster than others.

A post on Microsoft's Community forums spotted by MSMobile.pl brings us the confirmation that Windows Phone 8.1 Update 2 will indeed launch on more Lumia models. When this is actually going to happen is too early to tell.

“Thank you for the information about updating Windows Phone 8.1 Update 2. It will be available also for other Lumia phones running Windows Phone 8.1,” the Microsoft support engineer said.

Microsoft's controversial updates

It's no secret that Microsoft was often criticized for needing too much time to bring Windows Phone updates to users on time, and the best example is surely the release of the Lumia Denim firmware update that started in December 2014.

Believe it or not, but some devices are yet to receive the update although nearly 8 months have passed since the release officially started for phones across the world.

Microsoft is not the one fully responsible for this though, as according to Redmond's procedure, it needs to send the firmware update to carriers, who in their turn need to test it on devices they sell locally and give their go-ahead before sending it back to Microsoft for release to users.

This is clearly a painful system that takes time, and Microsoft is likely to adopt a similar approach for Windows 10 Mobile, which means that some phones might not get the new operating system when it launches, but weeks after that. Some are afraid they might have to wait for months to get it, so it's pretty clear that Microsoft is playing a risky game here.

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Lumia Denim availability in Czech Republic. Screenshot made on July 4, 2015 (nearly 8 months after the rollout of Lumia Denim started)

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Windows Phone 8.1 Update 2 on Lumia 640 XL
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