Goodbye, Microsoft Lumia. Hello New Surface Phone

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It seems as if the end is near for Microsoft’s Lumia brand, as new reports suggest that the company is planning on killing off the line. According to WinBeta, an anonymous source within Microsoft claims that the company will be ending sales of all Lumia smartphones by the end of this year.

Microsoft to end Lumia sales by the end of the year

Since Microsoft has been gradually slowing the release of handsets over the months, there aren’t too many Lumia-branded devices left on the market. This move makes sense for Microsoft, as the handset brand has been plummeting each quarter in market share, obviously making it a less valuable proposition for developers. The company has additionally been liquidating the devices with various buy-one get-one offers and other major discounts.

Microsoft’s Lumia lineup has shrunk to only four models, and in the United States, where Microsoft has struggled to move the phones, the company has removed the link to buy them from its website. On the retail side, stores have begun removing units from display and are trying to get rid of the remaining stocks by offering steep discounts.

Death looms for Lumia as Microsoft readies Surface Phone

According to the same source, however, is the claim that Microsoft in planning on replacing the Lumia lineup with a brand-new Surface Phone, which the company no doubt hopes will breathe new life into their struggling smartphone business.

Further evidence comes from two since-deleted tweets from Laura Butler, an engineering director at Microsoft, who posted “Surface iPhone. ;-)” on September 6, and “Surface Phone not NOT confirmed. :-)” on September 7, in response to questions posed by other Twitter users.

While many will miss the Lumia devices, it’s highly unlikely that a mere brand revive would revive the fortunes of the once-promising Lumia line. The brand has problems that are more than just cosmetic. Application developers have lost interest in the platform, and it’s hemorrhaging users. Windows Mobile has almost fallen to Blackberry levels of irrelevance.

Microsoft is reportedly going to host an event sometime in October, where the company is believed to be announcing some kind of brand-new Surface all-in-one. This could, potentially, be when the company announced its new Surface Phone, just in time for the holiday season.

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