Microsoft’s foray into the world of hardware has been a steady movement, although not necessarily as wildly successful as that of the iPhone or the Samsung Galaxy S and Note series. With the world expecting to see the Microsoft Surface Phone launched this year, it looks like such plans will have to take a back seat. A new rumor is going around, pointing to a different release date while bringing about speculation that the Windows 10 device will come with its fair share of business-centric features.
Most of the rumors concerning the Microsoft Surface Phone would concern the hardware specifications. The Surface Phone has been slated for the business market, which would normally be the domain of high end devices. The Register did mention on how the Surface Phone will be an enterprise sector device, as Kevin Gallo, Windows Corporate VP, did mention before that Microsoft is not going to ditch the Windows Mobile platform. With Windows desktops targeting the high-end professional market, it would not be out of place to see the Microsoft Surface Phone keep such desktops company.
Apart from that, the Surface Phone is said to boast of a powerful chipset -- but the exact chipset remains unknown as at press time. There were rumors of an unreleased Snapdragon 830 (we are just at Snapdragon 821 at the moment just in case you were wondering), or perhaps seeing even the Kaby Lake processor make an appearance. With Intel’s Kaby Lake processor due for a debut next year, then the Microsoft Surface Phone should also be released at around the same time.
Smartphone manufacturers have also taken the route of introducing variants to a particular smartphone model, and the same applies to the Microsoft Surface Phone. It will most probably come in three variants: 3GB of RAM and 32GB of storage, 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage, and a highly improbable 8GB of RAM and 500GB of internal memory (shouldn’t it be 512GB? Perhaps Microsoft is on to something here...). Now if the latter two were to be released, it would be jaw dropping stuff for sure
As for the display, the Surface Phone could come with a 5.7-inch Quad HD display alongside a 20MP camera that hails from Carl Zeiss. It looks like the Surface Pro 5 will just have to make its debut this year without the Surface Phone beside it. After all, it would be better to make sure a proper device is released without being gimped, which would be far more difficult to fix afterward.
In terms of pricing, the Microsoft Surface Phone is expected to cost for $699 a pop for the base model, so you can only imagine how much the higher end models will cost with at least double the amount of RAM, not to mention massive amount of internal storage.
A smartphone for business is usually pricier. For those waiting for the Surface Phone, expect to pay $699 for the base model. Even if the hardware was perfect, would iOS and Android users migrate to this platform as yet another additional device to own?
