Microsoft will be back with phones but not with same design: CEO Satya Nadella

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella in an interview has hinted that the company will be back with smartphones but their design or looks may be completely different.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella in an interview has hinted that the company will be back with smartphones but their design or looks may be completely different. (Reuters)

If you think Microsoft has forgotten smartphones, then think again as its chief executive Satya Nadella in an interview has hinted that the company will soon out with phones which will change the industry standards.

"So when you say 'when will we make more phones' I'm sure we'll make more phones," Nadella said in a podcast interview. "But they may not look like phones that are there today," he added.

Further explaining Nadella said that "we make phones today, we have OEMs like HP making phones and others and we picked a very specific area to focus on which is management, security, and this one particular feature that we have called Continuum, which is a phone that can even be a desktop."

The company decided to pull away from making its Lumia-branded smartphones last year. Instead, Microsoft said it would focus on boosting Windows 10 Mobile for OEMs. However, it had never said that it would permanently move away from smartphones and rumours from time to time indicate that Microsoft may soon release a Surface phone.

Nadella has long championed Continuum as the stand-out feature on Windows 10 Mobile. Interestingly, a Continuum-like feature is currently available via the Samsung Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+.