Windows 10 Mobile news recap: Surface Phone rumor, new build released

Ron

It’s been a busy week for Microsoft, especially with the company’s Windows 10 Mobile platform. Let’s take a look back at some of the hot stories relating to Windows 10 Mobile in a special feature we call “Windows 10 Mobile news recap.”
Surface Phone rumored to be coming second half of 2016
Rumor has it that Microsoft will release a “Surface Phone” sometime during the second half of 2016. This phone will be a new flagship lead by Panos Panay and the team of engineers that built the Microsoft Surface and Surface Book. Panay’s explorations may lead the ‘Surface Phone’ beyond a metal chassis, or even the traditional smartphone form factor altogether. Intel is reportedly still heavily involved in the production of Microsoft’s next phone. Whether or not an Intel smartphone chip will be able to adequately merge PC and handset, remains to be seen.
Exploring the camera on the Lumia 950 (video)
In this piece, our Features Editor (hi Oliver!) takes us on a quick exploration of the camera capabilities on the brand new Lumia 950. If you are curious to see what the camera is like, we highly recommend watching this short video.
Microsoft document reveals Windows 10 Mobile support will end in 2018
Windows 10 Mobile hasn’t officially rolled out to consumer devices yet, but we’re already seeing some documentation about the end-of-life treatment for the latest mobile operating system from Microsoft.
Satya Nadella says more time is needed for Windows 10 unified app platform to bear fruit
While former CEO Steve Ballmer believes Microsoft needs to turn to Android, current CEO Satya Nadella thinks more time is needed in order for Universal apps to really take off. How much more time to do you need Microsoft? I mean, come on.
Steve Ballmer: Microsoft needs to enable Windows 10 Mobile phones “to run Android apps”
Ballmer really stirred up a conversation by saying that. Speaking about current CEO Satya Nadella’s response to questions about Windows 10 Mobile’s app gap, which was in reference to the value of Universal Windows 10 apps being able to convince developers to bring apps to Microsoft’s mobile platform, Ballmer had some choice–and perhaps surprising–words to say about it.
IDC says Microsoft’s mobile efforts won’t grow much, cites lack of OEM partner support
The forecast for Windows Phone isn’t too pleasing, despite the launch of Windows 10 Mobile and the new Lumia flagships. The market research firm IDC expects the shipments to decline by 10.2 percent in 2015 to 31.3 million from 34.9 million in 2014. The reason for the decline is attributed to the lack of OEM support for the operating system.
Windows 10 Mobile build 10586.29 released, is the first cumulative update
Microsoft rolled out the first cumulative update to Windows 10 Mobile build 10586. This build addresses several issues and is available to participants of the Windows Insider program.
Unboxing and hands on with the Microsoft Lumia 550 (video)
Watch our very own (and quite charming) Zac Bowden unbox the first low-end Windows 10 Mobile handset — the Lumia 550.
Stay tuned for yet another exciting week of Windows 10 Mobile news!