Microsoft Surface Phone release date: New rumor hints 2017 launch

Microsoft Surface Phone, the first non-Lumia handset by the software titan from Redmond, will reportedly be released spring next year.

The device was initially planned for a launch later this year, but Microsoft allegedly decided against it to buy more time to improve the first smartphone they'll produce following the Lumia's failure to captivate the mobile community.

Microsoft intends to make a splash with the Microsoft Surface Phone by using the Qualcomm Snapdragon 830 processor. However, it will require the company to wait for next year to get a hold of the powerful processor.

It will be well worth the wait, though. The next-generation Qualcomm chipset is rumored to be robust enough to support 8 GB of RAM like clockwork. More than that, it is expected to be the first mobile processor to be made on the 10nm.

The Microsoft Surface Phone will no doubt benefit from that amount of power. Interestingly, there are already reports that the flagship will come with a top of the line version model with 8 GB of RAM and 500 GB of storage.

Other smaller options for Microsoft Surface Phone buyers are a 4 GB of RAM with 32 GB of storage and a 6 GB version with 64 GB of storage, all of which are more than enough to pack in a lot of files and apps.

The Microsoft Surface Phone is also rumored to feature a USB Type-C port as well as a 20-megapixel Carl Zeiss camera on the back. Microsoft is expected to take advantage of the Windows Hello in Windows 10 by including an iris scanner on the device.

Microsoft also makes the wait worthwhile knowing that Redstone 2 for Windows 10 will be available next year as well. With it, a whole bunch of new features can be added in the Microsoft Surface Phone.

Meanwhile, previous reports hint the integration of a QWERTY keyboard.