Call it a wishful thinking by the fans of Microsoft (yes, they exist) but somehow “Surface Phone” is an idea that refuses to die off. However, a recent report has indicated that it could be a reality in a not too distant future.
As the story goes, Panos Panay and the Surface team have been given the approval to work on an all-new premium flagship smartphone with a target to release it in second half of 2016. From the description, it seems like the device is not just a smartphone with Surface brand simply printed on it but instead, the team will develop the new phone from ground up.
The report further stated that Intel will be involved with the project as well. That being said, the chip maker’s role in the project is not clear at the moment which increases the mysterious aura surrounding the project. As Intel is certainly able to provide plenty of its products into the project from processors to biometrics sensors, so it is not exactly easy to guess.
In a way, it is not surprising that Microsoft has decided to let Surface team build its next flagship Windows smartphone since the team has proved its capability especially with the new Surface Pro 4 and Surface Book. Not to forget that Surface has turned itself into a profitable business despite the massive USD 900 million write-down for Surface RT in 2013 while Lumia smartphones and Windows Phone operating system in general continue to face an uphill battle against their competitors.
Nevertheless, it is still too early to predict how the upcoming Surface Phone able to turn things around for the platform. All in all, let’s see what kind of smartphone that Panos and his team will be able to create when the time comes next year.
(Source: Windows Central)
