Microsoft’s first purpose-built Windows 10 flagship devices are beginning to arrive in markets worldwide, and despite being the first high-end Windows Phones to come from the firm in recent years, they may not be the "ultimate" devices we"ve been waiting for. While the Lumia 950 and Lumia 950 XL are remnants of its Nokia acquisition, Microsoft has supposedly been working on delivering its first mobile device to originate from Redmond.
According to Windows Central, Microsoft"s latest collaboration with Intel to build a high-end mobile handset has been abandoned, but in its place, an interesting alternative is in the works from the Surface team. The phone is supposedly tagged internally as ‘Panos"s Phone’, named after Microsoft’s overseer of devices, Panos Panay. Obviously this is still an internal nickname for the device, but points towards what we can expect from the handset later down the line. The device is rumored to have the official codename of "NorthStar".
Currently little information is known about the phone, but if a similar setup to a Surface tablet is envisioned, the prospect of onboard Intel technologies is likely. If this deems true, the concept of Win32 applications arriving on a Windows 10 Mobile device may become a reality.
The earliest we can expect to see ‘Panos"s Phone’ is August 2016, which falls alongside the alleged release for Windows 10’s second major update, codenamed ‘Redstone’. A slightly later release window of Fall 2016 is also a possibility, one year after the release of the first Windows 10 Mobile flagship devices.
Source: Windows Central