Earlier this week, Microsoft confirmed its plans to bring the Windows 10 Technical Preview for phones to a much broader range of devices. The company released its first - and, so far, only - preview of the new OS for phones last month, but it restricted availability to just a handful of low- and mid-range handsets.
The next preview release should be extended to almost the entire Lumia Windows Phone 8.x range - but what about those users who bought a handset from one of Microsoft"s other platform partners? Well, there"s good news, and not-so-good news.
The good news is that Microsoft"s Gabe Aul, head of the Windows Insider program, has confirmed that the company is "working on" bringing the preview to other non-Lumia handsets. His tweet was in response to an enquiry asking if HTC devices will have to wait for the final public release, but Aul"s reply apparently confirms that non-Lumia handsets will get access to preview builds.
The not-so-good news, however, is that there"s no timeframe on that, so owners of Windows Phones not built by Nokia or Microsoft will have to wait a while longer.
Even with the many new hardware partners that have launched their first Windows Phones in recent months, the latest data indicates that the Lumia range now accounts for around 97% of all handset sales on the platform. In that context, it"s not hard to understand why releasing the preview to non-Lumia devices isn"t exactly Microsoft"s top priority right now.
That"s cold comfort for those still awaiting access to the Technical Preview on other devices - but at least there"s now confirmation that it"s on the way.