Microsoft's rumoured 'Surface Phone' may not arrive until next Fall

Microsoft’s Surface Phone is quite the illusory device. The saviour of the Windows 10 Mobile ecosystem, just around the corner,  always on the cusp of release, yet somehow never there.

Today, we got two reports on the status of the Surface Phone, each one seemingly backing up the other.

According to Mary Jo Foley who earlier today revealed that there would be a Microsoft event held this year to announce the new Surface All In One device, the Surface phone isn’t coming soon. It’s also not coming in Spring 2017, but later. “Surface Phone, if it does materialize, could be considerably later, sources say.”

“Surface Phone, if it does materialize, could be considerably later, sources say.”she writes. How much later would the Surface phone be coming? According to German Site Dr. Windows – it could be as early as Fall 2017 or as (catastrophically) late as early 2018.

The site goes on to detail exactly why the Surface Phone may be coming so late, and it seems to be due to another “McLaren” situation.

To recap, Microsoft initially planned to release a flagship for Fall 2014, with the latest internals and future looking technology. Due to some issue with the components, the project was scrapped completely. Microsoft, having no plan B, was caught with their pants down. They then had to recruit an unlikely OEM (HTC) to prepare a powerful flagship for it to show off Windows Phone 8.1.1’s new capabilities.

The issue this year, however, seems to be that Microsoft initially planned to release a flagship for Fall 2016 with powerful internals (Intel x86 as was rumoured previously) and future looking technology, but due to some issue with the components (Intel shutting down all mobile developments earlier) the project was scrapped completely. Microsoft, having no plan B was caught with their pants down. They then had to recruit an unlikely OEM (HP) to prepare a powerful flagship for it to show off Windows 10 Mobile’s Anniversary Update’s new capabilities.

Once is an accident. Twice is either incompetence or displays a lack of care. While Microsoft valiantly declared that they would make Windows 10 Mobile devices, even if no one else makes them, it seems that the firm is not yet proficient in the act of actually successfully manufacturing flagship devices just yet. While manufacturers like HP, Vaio, and Acer can somewhat pick up the slack – their efforts seem doomed to fail due to the limited appeal of their devices and the superiority of alternate offerings. The Windows 10 Mobile ecosystem  fragile as it is – is still very much reliant on Microsoft’s hardware. Seeing how Microsoft’s absence from the market decimated the Windows phone market in 2015, it is unknown how much more of the market will be left after yet another two-year absence.