Bad news for all the loyal Lumia fans out there. According to a report published by WinBeta, Microsoft could kill its Lumia lineup before the end of the year. The info allegedly comes from a Microsoft employee, who shared it with the folks at WinBeta.
The news is definitely not a shocker though, as earlier this year it was revealed that the Lumia 650 would be the very last Lumia smartphone on sale. Microsoft has also been offering significant discounts on Lumia smartphones over the past few weeks, possibly in a bid to clear the remaining inventory of Lumia smartphones. If everything goes according to plan, Lumia smartphones will no longer be available for purchase anywhere by December this year. Lumia smartphones are also no longer listed on the Microsoft US website.
While the Lumia brand may well be retired soon, it still isn’t clear if Microsoft is planning to quit the smartphone market entirely or if it will continue to remain a minor player with its own line of smartphones. The Surface Phone has been rumored multiple times over the past year or so, although nothing concrete has leaked online yet. The latest reports hint at a late 2017 launch for the Surface Phone, which means Microsoft may not launch a new smartphone anytime soon. Its last major announcement was in October last year, when it debuted the Lumia 950 and Lumia 950 XL flagship smartphones with Windows 10 Mobile.
Among mobile operating systems, Microsoft’s Windows 10 Mobile currently holds a share of just 0.6% globally, which is almost insignificant when compared to Android and iOS, which enjoy a combined market share of nearly 99.1%. However, at this point, it doesn’t seem like Microsoft is going to chase market share even if it does decide to continue making smartphones in the future. The Surface Phone, if the rumors are to be believed, will be a niche device mainly targeted at the enterprise segment and not the consumer market.
Source: WinBeta.org
