Is Microsoft Killing Off The Lumia?

Windows Phone may be on life support, but Microsoft seems committed to keeping it alive — even if it means killing off the last vestiges of Nokia’s storied Lumia brand. New reports say the Lumia name may be abandoned in favour of Surface, with a possible new Surface Phone coming out within the next couple of months.

Ars Technica’s anonymous tipster says that an October event may be on the cards for the Surface Phone’s unveiling, but it’s the lack of Lumias that’s more telling. In the US and UK, the only four remaining Lumia handsets are being deeply discounted or removed from sale entirely, including Microsoft’s own online store.

That could be a precursor to Microsoft announcing a Surface Phone — a move that may have been unintentionally pre-empted by the tweets of Microsoft engineering director Laura Butler, who Ars says tweeted the phrases “Surface iPhone” and “Surface Phone not NOT confirmed. :-)” before deleting them later. Given that we’ve had people in the street (in Berlin, during IFA) asking us when the Surface Phone was being announced, we think its existence is pretty close to reality.

Microsoft still sells the Lumia 650, Lumia 950 and Lumia 950 XL in Australia. Each phone is relatively good value considering their specs versus the competition, but despite that they haven’t been successful in Australia — for the three months into June 2016, Windows Phone held just 3 per cent of the Australian market share. [Ars Technica]


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