Microsoft Surface Phone Not Coming Soon; Company Focused on Working With OEMs
The Microsoft Surface Phone is not coming anytime soon, but the Redmond giant will by no means be absent from the mobile world as they work on their next flagship.
Microsoft is teaming up with Samsung to release a Microsoft Edition of the South Korean tech giant's newly unveiled flagship, the Samsung Galaxy S8.
This version of the smartphone, which will also available on the Plus version, will come with Microsoft's apps such as the Office, OneDrive, Outlook, which Samsung has been bundling with some of its offerings, and the digital assistant Cortana.
These will not be pre-installed on the Samsung Galaxy S8 though. Instead, they will be downloaded on the device the first time it connects to Wi-Fi.
"Samsung Galaxy S8 and Samsung Galaxy S8+ Microsoft Edition arranges those productivity applications on the home screen and provides additional accessibility to other Microsoft owned applications such as LinkedIn, Wunderlist and more," a Microsoft spokesperson told Engadget.
As for the Microsoft Surface Phone, reports about the flagship so far show that it could take on the likes of the Samsung Galaxy S8.
The software giant imagines the Surface Phone as a pocket-sized laptop that can run Win32 apps, the only thing lacking in the otherwise excellent HP Elite X3.
Speaking of the Windows 10 device, a sequel is also expected to be released although not much is known about it yet. It is, however, being reported that Microsoft is working on a new handset to be released later this year.
The Microsoft Surface Phone will allegedly not be ready for show until 2019. The company needs more time to perfect the device especially with the ambitious plans they have for it.
It is being said that it will make use of the features of the Redstone 3, the next update for Windows 10. This software version is not coming until late 2018.
With all that said, the Microsoft Surface Phone is unlikely to show off this year or the next. For now, users can check out the Microsoft Edition of the Samsung Galaxy S8, which will be available for preorder in the United States starting April 21.
