Wild Rumor of the Day: Microsoft Is Making Its Own Android Phone

Technology

Published: July 16, 2018 10:15 am

Last Updated: April 28, 2020 10:27 am

By Chris Smith of BGR.com

Depending on how you look at it, Microsoft is both the biggest loser of the mobile business and one of the biggest winners. The iPhone and Android duopoly pushed Windows Phones out the door, and Microsoft had to call it quits a few years after purchasing Nokia’s mobile division. But while Microsoft stopped making hardware, it didn’t stop creating or adapting software for mobile devices. Microsoft apps soon invaded Android and iOS, and it’s not just the Office suite, although that’s certainly one of the best Microsoft assets for both mobile and PC.

More recently, we’ve heard that Microsoft is working on a new kind of Windows 10 device, that mythical Surface Phone that Microsoft never made. Also known as Andromeda, the phone is still in development, with a rumor saying that it’s coming next year. But forget that for a second, as a crazier rumor just arrived: Microsoft is supposedly making its own Android handset.

Given that Microsoft already has many apps in place to take over the screen of Android devices, including the Office apps, a launcher, a browser, and the new News app, would it be so crazy to see Microsoft create its own Android-based smartphone? After all, Microsoft does sell Galaxy phones in its stores, which aren’t “Microsoft edition” handsets, but they may just as well be.

That said, with a Surface Phone in development, why would Microsoft even consider making an Android handset in the first place?

The rumor comes from Windows Latest, which provided screenshots that supposedly prove an interaction between a customer representative and a customer. The former said that Microsoft wouldn’t make any new Lumia phones — duh, of course, the Lumia family is dead.

But the person also said that Microsoft is working on its own Android handset, which will be powered by Android and sold under its own brand.

The simplest explanation is that the customer rep had wrong information which he forwarded along. He was not able to offer additional details about this handset other [than] that it’d be an Android device. The conversation below could have easily been doctored, so keep that in mind when you’re reading it.