Lumia smartphones, much like Windows phone itself, has seen better days. Microsoft’s didn’t give Windows 10 mobile much love in 2015, but it seems a new year means a new beginning. Windows Central reports that the Lumia 650, which will supposedly launch in early February, will be the last smartphone named “Lumia”.
According to Windows Central, Microsoft is going to keep it “low key” at Mobile World Congress, the big, Barcelona-based smartphone event in late February where we’ll most likely see LG’s upcoming G5 and Samsung’s Galaxy S7. The Lumia 650 will be the latest addition to Microsoft’s midrange phones with a 5″ HD display and a low-power Snapdragon processor. Then the Lumia lineup could disappear with a whimper.
Although rumours have said there’s a 750 and 850 still in the works, Windows Central says those phones have been cancelled in an effort to focus on the “Panos Phone”, AKA the Surface Phone. In late December, a Microsoft exec said that Windows Mobile needed something transformative, like what the Surface was for laptops. Many believe that small aside confirmed that such a phone was in the works. Although nothing is certain, ditching the “Lumia” name would most likely mean that Microsoft does have something else in mind — whatever “it” may be.
Either way, it’s been a long time since Microsoft’s heart was into making smartphones, so let’s hope whatever does replace the Lumia line will, at the very least, have Microsoft’s full attention.