Microsoft Corporation (MSFT)’s Surface Phone Swipes iPhone Spotlight

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) has shown the world that it has what it takes to compete with younger tech companies on win with innovative devices. It has awed critics with Cortana, Windows 10, Surface Book and an impressive line of Surface Pro tablets. However, the firm has not been able to crack the mobile code and it still lags behind relative newcomers such Apple and Google in the mobile industry.

Nonetheless, the success of the Surface Book and Surface Pro has bought Microsoft an amount of goodwill among tech observers. Hence, the prevailing opinion in the tech industry is that Microsoft might get a foothold in the mobile industry if its Surface Phone is as innovative as the Surface Book and Surface Pro. It seems Microsoft's much-awaited Surface Phone will have its debut next week at IFA 2016 – the same week as Apple will announce it's new iPhone models to the world.

Here's what we know about the Surface Phone

The Surface Phone has been the object of much speculation, rumors and supposed leads but Microsoft's Surface team has done a great job keeping the secret intact. However, iTechPost has it in good authority that the Richmond firm might unveil the Surface Phone that IFA conference holding in Berlin between Sept 2 and Sept 7.

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If you are interested in upgrading from Lumia or jumping ship from Android or iOS, the Surface Phone will come out in three flavors. There's an entry-level model with 32GB storage and 3GB RAM, there's a mid-range product with 128GB storage and 6GB RAM and the high-end model features 500GB storage and 8GB of RAM.

Rumormongers can't seem to agree on whether the device will sport a 5.5-inch AMOLED display or a 5.7-inch display. More so, there are conflicting reports on the processor that will power the Surface Phone. The favorite processors for the Surface Phone are Snapdragon 830, Snapdragon 821, and Atom 64-bit CPU.

The IFA Conference ends on Wednesday but there's no news about the Surface Phone so far. Hence, PC Advisor posits that the Surface Phone will make its debut when Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) unveils the Surface Pro 5 in October.

Can the Surface Phone put Microsoft on the mobile map?

Microsoft's Windows OS sits at a distant third position behind Apple's iOS and Google's Android OS. Last month, Android has a 66.87% market share in the global mobile/tablet operating system market. Apple's iOS controlled a decent 27.2% market share and the Windows Phone has a 2.3% market share.

Gartner reported that Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) had a 2.5% market share in the worldwide smartphone sales report. However, in the second quarter of 2016, Gartner reported that Microsoft sold about 2.3 million Windows Phones to account for a mere 0.7% global market share.  In fact, the 2.3M Lumia sold in the second quarter were 73% lower than the 8.6 million devices that the firm sold in the same quarter of 2015.

Interestingly, the painfully low market share that Windows Phone had in the mobile industry makes it practically impossible for the Richmond firm to sell many Lumia phones. However, analysts are optimistic that the introduction of the Surface Phone could change the narrative for Microsoft and cause the firm to sell more devices.

Source: Microsoft Corporation (MSFT)'s Surface Phone Swipes iPhone Spotlight