Update:
As per the latest info we have Microsoft may be preparing a Surface Phone Flagship powered by Snapdragon 830 and aims to release it in April 2017. Read our exclusive coverage of latest Surface Phone specs, features and other details by clicking here.
Original:
Let us begin with a bad news followed by a better one!! The Surface Phone that had a mid-rage standing as reported by our sources earlier stands cancelled. In fact Microsoft is not planning to release a new Intel-chip based phone in near-future.
Things look great however for a new device that may use a new Intel chip with much powerful SOC than the Sofia LTE chip that Windows 10 Mobile currently supports. Interestingly, this time Microsoft may indeed plan to use “Surface” moniker for this device, report our sources. This will be a big decision, as it means moving away from an established brand name and losing some brand-loyality in the process.
This information comes via our trusted sources who have tipped us about Microsoft testing Lumias based on Snapdragon 820 processor. It seems as if Microsoft may adopt a Surface Pro 4 – Surface Book kind of strategy here in mobiles too. There may be two flagships or super high-end devices, one with Snapdragon 820, more playful and another that may be claimed to be the ultimate powerhouse device, the Surface phone, with even ability to run Win32 apps and with and enhanced continuum.
Intel may introduce new chips for Smartphones with powerful CPUs designed to give tough competition to Qualcomm in Q2, 2016. If our sources have to believed, Microsoft has been on-board with Intel since testing of Sofia LTE chips and will be testing the new Intel processors before these finally come to market.
Surface Phone may boast of a Metallic unibody design and will carry the Surface family design genes. It may have a 5.2 / 5.5 inch, 4K UHD display; though one of our sources claims a 2K display. Anyways, it is expected to sport a more refined IR scanner and may come with an innovative cover and native Surface Pen support. We however hear that that rear camera may not be 20 MP big, but rather around 15 MP but with some advanced features. It may have a 8 MP FFC with flash.
For all the goodness, it is not supposed to arrive before end of Q3 2016 and may run the next major version of Windows 10 Mobile (we will talk about it in a future article) out of the box.
