Microsoft Surface Phone release date: Flagship coming after all?

Although news about the Microsoft Surface Phone pertains to its demise before it even existed, it appears not the Redmond-based tech giant may not be done with it at all.

Prior to the launch of the Microsoft Surface Studio last month, Mary Jo Foley of ZDNet stated that the Microsoft Surface Phone will arrive much later, should it even materialize.

"My sources continue to say no new Microsoft phones of any kind are coming this year, either," Foley stated in her report.

"If and when anything like a Surface Phone ends up materializing, it will likely be late 2017 or maybe even not until 2018, my contacts have said recently," she added.

While the Microsoft Surface Phone appears to be nowhere on Microsoft's priority list, the tech giant might not be looking to abandon the mobile scene just yet.

Microsoft executive vice president of Windows and devices Terry Myerson recently sat down with an interview with Foley to talk about the company's present and future. There, he addressed the lack of new Windows Phones this year.

"Technically, there are really two things that are unique about Windows Mobile. One is cellular connectivity and the other one is the ARM processors that are there. And I think both cellular connectivity and ARM processors have a role in the technical landscape of the future," Myerson said when asked why Microsoft continues to update the Windows Mobile when the market share is just at one percent.

"So we're going to continue to invest in ARM and cellular. And while I'm not saying what type of device, I think we'll see devices there, Windows devices, that use ARM chips. I think we'll see devices that have cellular connectivity," he added.

Of course, Microsoft Surface Phone was not explicitly mentioned, but the Microsoft Surface Phone could end up being one of the devices he mentioned.

Meanwhile, Windows Central says that in building the Microsoft Surface Phone or as it referred to it, the ultra mobile Surface, the company's thinking is that the device is first a personal computer (PC) before it is a smartphone.

The publication believes that Microsoft's vision of its mobile smartphone future may have been glimpsed in a video from 2009 and one from last year. It is unclear if the Microsoft Surface Phone will adopt such design.