Microsoft is said to be taking its time in creating its next big thing, rumored to be the Surface Phone. It is speculated that the next Windows smartphone would arrive in 2017 and could feature a Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor under its hood and a display screen of 5.7 inches.
The Redmond-based tech giant already has a desktop, a laptop and a tablet in its Surface lineup - the Surface Studio, the Surface Book and the Surface Pro, respectively. Persistent rumors suggest that the company will also have a smartphone under the brand. This was then reinforced last month when Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella went to Australia to address the attendees at a local developers conference.
"We will continue to be in the phone market not as defined by today's market leaders, but by what it is that we can uniquely do in what is the most ultimate mobile device," Nadella said, according to the Australian Financial Review.
Microsoft may have had a rocky start in cracking the consumer smartphone market after its $7.6 billion acquisition of Nokia's handset business. The Lumia brand failed to go up the ladder. However, as Nadella also said during the event, they may have had some hits and misses, but the company will eventually get there.
He then cited their own Surface Pro 2-in-1 tablet, the innovative design of which was questioned three years ago. Critics asked who would be interested in such design, but now, there are many 2-in-1 tablets in the market and the numbers are still growing.
Meanwhile, Trusted Reviews mentioned that the long-rumored mobile device could arrive during the first half of 2017. It is also speculated that the highly anticipated smartphone could have an all-metal design and with three variants, namely Consumer, Business, and Enthusiast Editions.
The first variant is said to house 3 GB of RAM and 32 GB of storage, the second model is likely to sport 6 GB of RAM and 128 GB of internal storage, while the third is expected to contain 8 GB RAM and 500 GB of data space. The alleged device is also rumored to have a single screen size, a 5.7-inch display, and it could pack Qualcomm's recently announced Snapdragon 835 that boasts Quick Charge 4.0 technology. Additionally, the most powerful model is said to be able to run x86 applications, similar to programs on a full-fledged Windows computer via the Windows Continuum.
As of now, Microsoft has not acknowledged the existence of the Surface Phone.