If recent patents about the device are any indication, it appears like the long-rumored Microsoft Surface Phone will be a foldable handset. Just recently, patents emerged stating that Microsoft is looking to develop and create a device that is equipped with not just two, but three displays. If anything, the recent patents about the yet-to-be-named handset all suggest one thing — Microsoft is really trying to push the envelope when it re-enters the smartphone market.
Earlier this month, the Redmond-based tech giant might have dropped a massive clue about its upcoming mobile device. During a minor conference in Build 2018, Microsoft designer Jon Friedman discussed a particularly interesting topic — the Microsoft Courier, and why it was canceled. As a device, the Courier is definitely one of the machines that could have truly made Microsoft a leader in the mobile computing space.
Equipped with two displays, the Courier concept could be folded in and out, giving its users unprecedented usability. The device also had stylus support, which made it perfect for taking notes. Unfortunately, the Courier was never released, and it remained largely unknown by the smartphone community, at least until the Surface Phone’s recent patents emerged. As could be seen in the upcoming device’s patents, Microsoft appears to be adopting the Courier’s design and concept to the Surface Phone, and the results are rather stunning.
According to Friedman’s discussion, the decision to kill off the Microsoft Courier was ultimately called by then-CEO Steve Ballmer back in 2012. As noted in a Surface-Phone.It report, the Courier did not really fit in with the ecosystem the company had in mind with its operating system then. During that time, Microsoft was still invested in Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8, and this caused a lot of complications for the Courier. The Courier’s two displays did not support Metro applications, which were, at least for the time, pertinent for Microsoft’s system. With Windows 10, however, this limitation is not present anymore.
Based on the rumors about the device, the Surface Phone, or Microsoft Andromeda, as the device is also dubbed as, will be running the full desktop version of Windows 10, according to a WinCentral report. This makes it fully compatible with Microsoft’s operating system, and coupled with a rumored capability to run desktop-grade applications; there is a pretty good chance that the Surface Phone would be a device that can be what the Courier could have been.