While rumors of a Surface Phone are popping up with some regularity these days, a new report is throwing cold water on a release this year.
Previous reports had pegged the launch of a new Surface Phone line for this year. No so, say sources speaking to Windows Central, who say the device actually won't launch until 2017.
While still unconfirmed by any official source, this timeline does fall in line with another report from last month that claimed Microsoft may be holding off on introducing new Surface devices until the next major Windows 10 update rolls around, which isn't expected until 2017, too.
Three's a (good) crowd
Today's report also points to Microsoft launching three different versions of the Surface Phone: a consumer model, a business model and a premium "prosumer/enthusiast" edition.
It wouldn't be the first firm to launch different versions of the same phone - just look at the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge - but three is quite an undertaking. How different the devices are and whether consumers respond to all three are questions for next year, though.
Not much else is currently known about the new Surface Phone other than it's being developed by the same team behind the Surface tablets and could be powered by Intel's next-gen Core processors, codenamed Kaby Lake.
