T-Mobile has reportedly discontinued the Alcatel Idol 4S

The arrival of the high-powered Alcatel Idol 4S was somewhat unexpected, but its early departure is par for the course for Windows Phones.

PocketNow reports that despite steep discounts which saw the VR-enabled Snapdragon 820 handset selling for as little as $285, after only 5 months on T-Mobile’s virtual shelves the handset has now been withdrawn.

The handset set a high water mark for a powerful, affordable Windows Phone, offering a Snapdragon 820 processor, 3 GB of RAM, 64 GB of Storage, a 21 MP camera of decent quality, a nice curved glass and metal design as well as support for VR.

For Windows aficionados, it also supported Windows Continuum, Windows Hello and also has a camera shutter button (Tap the fingerprint sensor) as well. As far as specs go, it was one of the nicest Windows phones available in the US and Canada so far, and certainly much more affordable than the HP Elite X3.

For now the device remains on sale in the Microsoft Store, and Alcatel has suggested it may be sold in Europe, supposedly in June, but the failure of the device may be another sign that the Windows Phone experiment itself may come to an end soon.