Surface Phone price, release date reports: Top variant estimated at US$1099, year 2017

Ever since the launch of its Windows Phone 7, Microsoft has been struggling in the smartphone market. To regain the momentum, the tech giant is reportedly planning to discontinue its current Lumia lineup and completely revamp the handset with improved specs and features.

Fresh reports suggest that Microsoft’s Surface branded smartphone would not arrive before April 2017. Previous rumours indicated that the Surface Phone could be announced by the end of the third quarter of 2016.

Earlier in March, Terry Myerson, executive vice president of Windows and Devices Group at Microsoft, told The Verge, that the company isn’t focusing on the smartphone segment until next year.

Microsoft, however, is yet to announce the official Surface Phone release date.

To cater to a larger target market, Microsoft is said to unveil the Surface Phone in three different variants. According to a report in Mobipicker, the high-end premium variant of the purported Surface Phone could be priced as high as US$1099 (AU$1494).

Last year in December, Chris Capossela, chief marketing officer for Microsoft, had confirmed that Microsoft is working on a “breakthrough” device running on Windows 10 Mobile. At a podcast interview with Windows Weekly, Capossela indicated the development of a Surface branded phone.

If rumours are to be believed, the Microsoft Surface Phone will be as powerful as a modern day PC. The device will supposedly sport a 5.5-inch AMOLED display with a screen resolution of 1440 x 2560 pixels. Microsoft may even equip the phone with support for a Surface Pen just like S Pen of Galaxy Note 5.

Prevailing speculations indicate the Surface Phone may arrive with multiple RAM capacities ranging between 4GB and 6GB.

The successor to the Snapdragon 820 SoC, the high-end Snapdragon 830 could make its way to the upcoming Surface Phone. The new processor is expected to support up to 8GB of RAM and will also supposedly enhance the graphical capabilities of mobile devices.