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Microsoft is more or less out of the phone game at this point, but it could be planning to make a comeback, as according to a Microsoft Store employee it’s working on a new handset.

The information was shared with Windows Latest in a series of messages in which the agent (who wanted to remain anonymous) said specifically that Microsoft is working on a new line of phones which will be powered by Android.

And when asked specifically whether these phones would be Microsoft-branded the agent said that they would, so this certainly sounds a lot like Microsoft will be making its own phone that runs Android, though the agent couldn’t give any more information on it or on when we might see it. You can see key parts of the exchange below.

Don't count on it

However, we’d take all of this with a huge pinch of salt, as we’re not convinced an customer service agent would have this kind of inside information unless the launch was imminent, and if it was this probably wouldn’t be the first we’re hearing about it.

It’s also possible that the agent got confused and was talking about Microsoft selling another company’s Android phone on its store, perhaps with some Microsoft software bundled in, as it has done in the past.

Still, it’s not impossible that this information is accurate. After all, Microsoft has long been rumored to be working on a Surface Phone, and while it was assumed that this would run some version of Windows, Android might make more sense in terms of getting sales. Or this could be something completely unrelated to the Surface Phone. Only time will tell.

• Microsoft fans really want a Surface Phone

Via PocketNow

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For a long, long time now we're been hearing rumors that Microsoft is working on a Surface Phone or mini-tablet, with the device apparently folding in half when needed. New reports suggest the hardware and the software for the compact Surface are now being reworked, with no launch expected until 2019.

That's according to sources speaking to Thurrott, sources who say Microsoft isn't happy with the quality of what they've managed to put together so far. It's not a case of going right back to the drawing board, but Microsoft is apparently taking a few steps back.

The good news is, as per the latest leaks, that the project is still being actively worked on and isn't in danger of being killed off completely (at least not yet) – that will come as a relief to the thousands of people who signed a petition asking Microsoft to please, please release a Surface Phone in the near future.

What we think we know so far

Based on everything we've heard so far, it sounds like the new Surface device will use smartphone components, and be smartphone-sized, and fold in half – but it may not be marketed as a "Surface Phone". Microsoft itself seems to be referring to it as a "pocketable" device in a new hardware category of its own.

The device is going to run the Andromeda OS, a new modular revamp of Windows 10 – modular as in different bits of the software can be added or removed depending on what kind of hardware it's running on. This too is unofficial, and is likely to turn up in 2019.

Given what happened with Microsoft's last mobile venture it's perhaps not surprising that it wants to get everything perfectly right this time around, hence the extra delay in the phone-tablet-laptop hybrid. It seems clear that Microsoft is working on something like a Surface Phone – as for whether it'll ever see the light of day, we'll have to wait and see.

• New Microsoft Surface Phone evidence brings us closer to a 2-in-1 smartphone reality

Via The Next Web