14 DAY TRIAL // It’s all just a matter of time until Windows Phone is gone for good, but it appears that Microsoft has already started ending support for the platform last month.
Microsoft has previously confirmed that no new features and devices are on the radar for its mobile platform, and now the company is making another big step towards abandoning Windows 10 Mobile altogether.
A company employee revealed that the firm has started retiring support for Windows phones last month, though it’s not entirely clear what this means since the platform was already in maintenance mode. Extended support for the operating system will come to an end in mid-2019, and beyond that point, no other security patches and improvements would be shipped to devices.
Extended support ending next year
In a statement commenting on issues with Bing Maps, which is believed to be getting the ax as well, Microsoft employee Ricky Brundritt says the mapping service for Windows phones is already in the process of being retired.
“Windows Phone is not supported. Support for Windows Phone as a whole (not just maps) started ending in January. I suspect you are seeing a cached version of the docs in the browser. Try pressing CTRL + F5 and you should see that Window Phone was removed to align with Windows Phone as a whole no longer being supported by Microsoft,” the engineer posted.
Microsoft pulling support for Windows phones is no surprise, especially because the company itself confirmed the platform no longer has a place in its long-term strategy.
More recently, the company also stopped rolling out preview builds to phones enrolled in the Windows Insider program for the very same reason, as it wants to focus its efforts on projects that do make sense right now.
In the meantime, the software giant is said to be giving the finishing touches to the Surface Phone, a new mobile device expected later this year and likely to come with Windows 10 ARM, and not Windows 10 Mobile.