Microsoft only sold around 1.2 million Lumia phones in the April to June quarter

Although Microsoft hasn't revealed how many Lumia smartphones it sold in the second quarter of this year through its regular quarterly financial results, the company has an SEC filing out today that clears that up. In the document, Microsoft mentions that in its fiscal year 2016 (which started on July 1, 2015, and ended on June 30 this year), it sold 13.8 million Lumias in total.

The number for the April to June quarter of 2016 (Microsoft's fiscal Q4) is easy to calculate because we have official numbers for all the other three quarters - sales were 5.8 million in Q1, 4.5 million in Q2, and 2.3 million in Q3.

That means the company managed to nearly halve its Lumia sales from the January to March quarter to the April to June quarter. In this year's Q2 (its fiscal Q4) Microsoft only sold 1.2 million units. That's abysmal performance but really isn't surprising considering how Microsoft has been moving away from focusing on building smartphones lately. The trend is clear, with sales also nearly halving from its fiscal Q2 to fiscal Q3. At this rate in a few quarters Microsoft won't be selling any smartphones at all.

Source | Via

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Windows 10-powered NuAns Neo to be available outside of Japan starting today

Inline with the previously revealed June-end launch time frame, the Windows 10-powered NuAns Neo will be available for purchase in select countries starting today. This was announced by NuAns, the company behind Neo, in a press release.

"The NuAns NEO will be available to select countries outside of Japan via our Kickstarter campaign which will launch Friday, July 1, 2016," the company said, adding that there will be great rewards and discounts available prior to the handset hitting wireless retail locations worldwide.

For those who aren't in the know, the selling point of Neo is that it features TWOTONE interchangeable covers for its back. Its spec sheet reads Snapdragon 617 SoC, 5-inch HD display, 2GB/16GB memory configuration, 13MP/5MP camera combo, and 3,350mAh battery. The device features a USB Type-C port, as well as offers support for Continuum.

Via (press release) | NuAns Neo

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Report says Microsoft will out a Surface-branded all-in-one PC this year

According to a new report, Microsoft will release a Surface-branded all-in-one PC this year - sometime in Q3 to be more specific. It is being said that the said PC is an alternative to the company's second-gen Surface Book.

As for the Surface Book 2, which was expected to be launched sometime in H2 this year, the report notes that its release will be delayed to H1 2017. As for the reason behind the delay, the report cites delayed shipments of Intel's Kaby Lake CPUs.

Via

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Executive says Microsoft's next phone will be high-end, claims it will be "category innovating"

Microsoft's next phone will be a high-end device aimed at the enterprise market, according to the company's Corporate VP of Windows Kevin Gallo. He also claimed that the handset would be "category innovating."

"We’re really aligned to what we’ve done on the Windows desktop," he said, adding “which is we’ll lead with some high end and category innovation like we’ve done with Surface, and OEMs will go and build the breadth of the catalog."

He also commented on the company's Windows Phone OS, stressing that neither it has been abandoned, nor there are any such plans.

"Windows Phone is fully supported. We’re fully behind it. We’re not abandoning the phone," he said. "There’s really no change in what our direction or strategy is with respect to releasing the Windows Phone software."

In fact, he said they'll soon be pushing out a major update to the Windows 10 Mobile OS.

Via

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Verizon starts updating the Nokia Lumia Icon to Windows 10 Mobile

Great news for owners of Verizon's Nokia Lumia Icon. After having carefully considered whether to roll out Windows 10 Mobile to this model (something we told you about in March), Microsoft has in fact decided to grace the Icon with the latest version of its mobile operating system.

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, the update to Windows 10 Mobile for the Lumia Icon should be on its way starting today, according to Verizon. As always in these cases, the rollout occurs over-the-air, so at some point you'll get an update notification and you go from there. But since the update is going out in stages, it might be a few days before all Lumia Icon units receive it.

If you're impatient, you can always manually check for the update by going to Settings > Phone update > Check for updates. It's definitely good to see the Lumia Icon running the latest and greatest from Microsoft, since it's one of the few Windows Phones ever sold by a major US carrier.

Source | Via

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