Microsoft's Windows 10 Mobile is almost dead with just under 1 percent market share in the smartphone market. Microsoft itself has not announced a device running the mobile OS for nearly a year and now a leaked image shows the signs of revival.
According to an image tweeted by Evan Blass, Windows Phone fans still stand a chance for getting hands on a flagship handset. The image teased is reportedly of a Dell made handset (and not Surface Phone) running full Windows 10 and Intel processor under the hood. If that sounds exciting then hold on, the handset is not coming to the market anytime soon. Microsoft-watcher Brad Sams reports the leaked handset is a Dell-branded device based on Intel's x86 architecture. With Intel's X86 chipset and full Windows 10, the purported device already makes for a compelling performance device but it doesn't seem to be materialising anytime soon.
According to the report, the main barrier for the device has been the lack of mobile-optimised Intel chipsets. In April, Intel abandoned Atom chipsets designed for smartphones after failing to compete with ARM based chipsets. Intel which was a laggard in the smartphone industry failed to catch up by bringing in a mobile-optimised processor.
The use of Intel processor is seen as a major differentiator among ARM powered devices. The use of x86 Intel chipset also allows OEMs to use the full Windows 10 OS and not the stripped down Windows 10 Mobile. Evan Blass followed up his initial tweet with another image that shows how this device could have pushed Microsoft's Continuum forward.
Brad Sams also reports that this device will not see the light of day, atleast not in the near future. The leaked device, however, does hint at the future of Windows Phone which looks lost right now.