Windows 10 Mobile is a discontinued
mobile operating system
A mobile operating system is an operating system for mobile phones, tablets, smartwatches, smartglasses, or other non-laptop personal mobile computing devices. While computers such as typical laptops are "mobile", the operating systems used on ...
developed by
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washin ...
. First released in 2015, it is a successor to
Windows Phone 8.1
Windows Phone 8.1 is the discontinued third generation of Microsoft's Windows Phone mobile operating system, succeeding Windows Phone 8. Rolled out at Microsoft's Build Conference in San Francisco, California, on April 2, 2014, it was released ...
, but was marketed by Microsoft as being an
edition
Edition may refer to:
* Edition (book), a bibliographical term for a substantially similar set of copies
* Edition (printmaking), a publishing term for a set print run
* Edition (textual criticism), a particular version of a text
* Edition Recor ...
of its
PC operating system
Windows 10
Windows 10 is a major release of Microsoft's Windows NT operating system. It is the direct successor to Windows 8.1, which was released nearly two years earlier. It was released to manufacturing on July 15, 2015, and later to retail on J ...
.
Windows 10 Mobile aimed to provide greater consistency with its counterpart for PCs, including more extensive synchronization of content,
Universal Windows Platform
Universal Windows Platform (UWP) is a computing platform created by Microsoft and first introduced in Windows 10. The purpose of this platform is to help develop universal apps that run on Windows 10, Windows 10 Mobile (discontinued), Windo ...
apps, as well as the capability, on supported hardware, to connect devices to an external display and use a
desktop
A desktop traditionally refers to:
* The surface of a desk (often to distinguish office appliances that fit on a desk, such as photocopiers and printers, from larger equipment covering its own area on the floor)
Desktop may refer to various compu ...
interface with mouse and keyboard input support (reminiscent of Windows on PCs). Microsoft built tools for
developers to
port
A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as H ...
iOS
iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also include ...
Objective-C
Objective-C is a general-purpose, object-oriented programming language that adds Smalltalk-style messaging to the C programming language. Originally developed by Brad Cox and Tom Love in the early 1980s, it was selected by NeXT for its NeXT ...
apps with minimal modifications. Windows Phone 8.1 smartphones are eligible for upgrade to Windows 10 Mobile, pursuant to manufacturer and carrier support.
Some features vary depending on hardware compatibility.
Windows 10 Mobile was designed for use on
smartphone
A smartphone is a portable computer device that combines mobile telephone and computing functions into one unit. They are distinguished from feature phones by their stronger hardware capabilities and extensive mobile operating systems, whic ...
s and
phablet
A phablet (, ) is a mobile device combining or straddling the size formats of smartphones and tablets. The word is a portmanteau of ''phone'' and ''tablet''.
Phablets feature large displays that complement screen-intensive activity such as mo ...
s running on 32-bit
ARM
In human anatomy, the arm refers to the upper limb in common usage, although academically the term specifically means the upper arm between the glenohumeral joint (shoulder joint) and the elbow joint. The distal part of the upper limb between th ...
processor architectures.
Microsoft also intended for the platform to be used on ARM
tablets with screens 9 inches or smaller in size, but such devices were rarely commercially released. Windows 10 Mobile entered public beta for selected
Lumia smartphones on February 12, 2015.
The first Lumia smartphones powered by Windows 10 Mobile were released on November 20, 2015, while eligible Windows Phone devices began receiving updates to Windows 10 Mobile on March 17, 2016, pursuant to manufacturer and carrier support.
The platform never achieved any significant degree of popularity or market share in comparison to
Android or
iOS
iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also include ...
. By 2017, Microsoft had already begun to downplay Windows 10 Mobile, having discontinued active development (beyond maintenance releases) due to a lack of user and developer interest in the platform, and focusing more on serving incumbent mobile operating systems as part of its software and services strategy. Support for Windows 10 Mobile
ended on January 14, 2020. , Windows 10 Mobile has 0.01% market share of the mobile operating system market.
Development
Microsoft had already begun the process of unifying the Windows platform across device classes in 2012;
Windows Phone 8
Windows Phone 8 is the second generation of the Windows Phone mobile operating system from Microsoft. It was released on October 29, 2012, and, like its predecessor, it features a flat user interface based on the Metro design language. It was s ...
dropped the
Windows CE
Windows Embedded Compact, formerly Windows Embedded CE, Windows Powered and Windows CE, is an operating system subfamily developed by Microsoft as part of its Windows Embedded family of products.
Unlike Windows Embedded Standard, which is base ...
-based architecture of its predecessor,
Windows Phone 7
Windows Phone 7 is the first release of the Windows Phone mobile client operating system, released worldwide on October 21, 2010, and in the United States on November 8, 2010. It runs on the Windows CE 6.0 kernel.
It received multiple large upda ...
,
for a platform built upon the
NT kernel
The architecture of Windows NT, a line of operating systems produced and sold by Microsoft, is a layered design that consists of two main components, user mode and kernel mode. It is a preemptive, reentrant multitasking operating system, wh ...
that shared much of the same architecture with its PC counterpart
Windows 8
Windows 8 is a major release of the Windows NT operating system developed by Microsoft. It was released to manufacturing on August 1, 2012; it was subsequently made available for download via MSDN and TechNet on August 15, 2012, and later to ...
including file system (
NTFS
New Technology File System (NTFS) is a proprietary journaling file system developed by Microsoft. Starting with Windows NT 3.1, it is the default file system of the Windows NT family. It superseded File Allocation Table (FAT) as the preferred fil ...
), networking stack, security elements, graphics engine (
DirectX), device driver framework and
hardware abstraction layer
Hardware abstractions are sets of routines in software that provide programs with access to hardware resources through programming interfaces. The programming interface allows all devices in a particular class ''C'' of hardware devices to be acce ...
.
At
Build 2014, Microsoft also unveiled the concept of
Universal Windows Apps. With the addition of
Windows Runtime
Windows Runtime (WinRT) is a platform-agnostic component and application architecture first introduced in Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012 in 2012. It is implemented in C++ and officially supports development in C++ (via C++/WinRT, C++/CX or ...
support to these platforms, apps created for
Windows 8.1 could now be
ported
In software engineering, porting is the process of adapting software for the purpose of achieving some form of execution in a computing environment that is different from the one that a given program (meant for such execution) was originally desi ...
to
Windows Phone 8.1
Windows Phone 8.1 is the discontinued third generation of Microsoft's Windows Phone mobile operating system, succeeding Windows Phone 8. Rolled out at Microsoft's Build Conference in San Francisco, California, on April 2, 2014, it was released ...
and
Xbox One
The Xbox One is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. Announced in May 2013, it is the successor to Xbox 360 and the third base console in the Xbox series of video game consoles. It was first released in North America, parts of ...
while sharing a common codebase with their PC counterparts. User data and
licenses
A license (or licence) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit).
A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another party (licensee) as an element of an agreeme ...
for an app could also be shared between multiple platforms.
In July 2014, Microsoft's then-new CEO
Satya Nadella explained that the company was planning to "streamline the next version of Windows from three operating systems into one single converged operating system for screens of all sizes", unifying Windows,
Windows Phone
Windows Phone (WP) is a discontinued family of mobile operating systems developed by Microsoft for smartphones as the replacement successor to Windows Mobile and Zune. Windows Phone featured a new user interface derived from the Metro design l ...
, and
Windows Embedded
Windows IoT, formerly Windows Embedded, is a family of operating systems from Microsoft designed for use in embedded systems. Microsoft currently has three different subfamilies of operating systems for embedded devices targeting a wide market, ...
around a common architecture and a unified application ecosystem. However, Nadella stated that these internal changes would not have any effect on how the operating systems are
marketed and sold.
On September 30, 2014, Microsoft unveiled
Windows 10
Windows 10 is a major release of Microsoft's Windows NT operating system. It is the direct successor to Windows 8.1, which was released nearly two years earlier. It was released to manufacturing on July 15, 2015, and later to retail on J ...
;
Terry Myerson
Terry Myerson (born 1972 or 1973) is an American venture partner at Madrona Venture Group and an operating executive at The Carlyle Group. Myerson was previously an Executive Vice President at Microsoft, and head of its Windows and Devices Group.
...
explained that Windows 10 would be Microsoft's "most comprehensive platform ever", promoting plans to provide a "unified" platform for
desktop computers,
laptops,
tablets,
smartphone
A smartphone is a portable computer device that combines mobile telephone and computing functions into one unit. They are distinguished from feature phones by their stronger hardware capabilities and extensive mobile operating systems, whic ...
s, and
all-in-one devices.
Windows 10 on phones was publicly unveiled during the ''Windows 10: The Next Chapter'' press event on January 21, 2015; unlike previous Windows Phone versions, it would also expand the platform's focus to small, ARM-based tablets. Microsoft's previous attempt at an operating system for ARM-based tablets,
Windows RT
Windows RT is a mobile operating system developed by Microsoft. It is a version of Windows 8 or Windows 8.1 built for the 32-bit ARM architecture (ARMv7). First unveiled in January 2011 at Consumer Electronics Show, the Windows RT 8 operat ...
(which was based upon the PC version of Windows 8), was commercially unsuccessful.
During the
2015 Build keynote, Microsoft announced the
middleware
Middleware is a type of computer software that provides services to software applications beyond those available from the operating system. It can be described as "software glue".
Middleware makes it easier for software developers to implement c ...
toolkit "Islandwood", later known as
Windows Bridge for iOS, which provides a
toolchain
In software, a toolchain is a set of programming tools that is used to perform a complex software development task or to create a software product, which is typically another computer program or a set of related programs. In general, the tools for ...
that can assist developers in porting
Objective-C
Objective-C is a general-purpose, object-oriented programming language that adds Smalltalk-style messaging to the C programming language. Originally developed by Brad Cox and Tom Love in the early 1980s, it was selected by NeXT for its NeXT ...
software (primarily
iOS
iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also include ...
projects) to build as Universal Windows Apps.
An early build of Windows Bridge for iOS was released as open source software under the
MIT License
The MIT License is a permissive free software license originating at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the late 1980s. As a permissive license, it puts only very limited restriction on reuse and has, therefore, high license comp ...
on August 6, 2015.
Visual Studio 2015
Visual Studio is an integrated development environment (IDE) from Microsoft. It is used to develop computer programs including websites, web apps, web services and mobile apps. Visual Studio uses Microsoft software development platforms such a ...
can also convert
Xcode
Xcode is Apple's integrated development environment (IDE) for macOS, used to develop software for macOS, iOS, iPadOS, watchOS, and tvOS. It was initially released in late 2003; the latest stable release is version 14.2, released on December 13, ...
projects into Visual Studio projects.
Microsoft also announced plans for a toolkit codenamed "Centennial",
which would allow desktop Windows software using
Win32
The Windows API, informally WinAPI, is Microsoft's core set of application programming interfaces (APIs) available in the Microsoft Windows operating systems. The name Windows API collectively refers to several different platform implementations th ...
APIs to be ported to Windows 10 Mobile.
Project Astoria
At Build, Microsoft had also announced an
Android runtime environment for Windows 10 Mobile known as "Astoria", which would allow Android apps to run in an emulated environment with minimal changes, and have access to Microsoft platform APIs such as
Bing Maps and
Xbox Live as nearly drop-in replacements for equivalent
Google Mobile Services
Google Mobile Services (GMS) is a collection of proprietary applications and application programming interfaces (APIs) services from Google that are typically pre-installed on Android devices, such as smartphones, tablets, and smart TVs. GMS ...
. Google Mobile Services and certain core APIs would not be available, and apps with "deep integration into background tasks" were said to poorly support the environment.
On February 25, 2016, after already having delayed it in November 2015,
Microsoft announced that "Astoria" would be shelved, arguing that it was redundant to the native Windows Bridge toolkit since iOS is already a primary target for mobile app development. The company also encouraged use of products from
Xamarin
Xamarin is a Microsoft-owned San Francisco-based software company founded in May 2011 by the engineers that created Mono, Xamarin.Android (formerly Mono for Android) and Xamarin.iOS (formerly MonoTouch), which are cross-platform implementatio ...
(which they had acquired the previous day) for multi-platform app development using
C# programming language instead.
Portions of Astoria were used as a basis for the
Windows Subsystem for Linux
Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for ser ...
(WSL) platform on the PC version of Windows 10.
Naming
To promote it as being unified with its desktop equivalent, Microsoft promoted the operating system as being an
edition
Edition may refer to:
* Edition (book), a bibliographical term for a substantially similar set of copies
* Edition (printmaking), a publishing term for a set print run
* Edition (textual criticism), a particular version of a text
* Edition Recor ...
of Windows 10. Microsoft had begun to phase out specific references to the Windows Phone brand in its advertising in mid-2014, but critics have still considered the operating system to be an iteration and continuation of Windows Phone due to its lineage and similar overall functionality. Microsoft referred to the OS as "Windows 10 for phones and small tablets" during its unveiling,
and leaked screenshots from a Technical Preview build identified the operating system as "Windows 10 Mobile".
The technical preview was officially called the "Windows 10 Technical Preview for phones",
while the
user agent of
Microsoft Edge
Microsoft Edge is a proprietary, cross-platform web browser created by Microsoft. It was first released in 2015 as part of Windows 10 and Xbox One and later ported to other platforms as a fork of Google's Chromium open-source project: Android ...
contained a reference to "Windows Phone 10".
On May 13, 2015, Microsoft officially confirmed the platform would be known as Windows 10 Mobile.
Features
A major aspect of Windows 10 Mobile is a focus on harmonizing user experiences and functionality between different classes of devices—specifically, devices running the PC-oriented version of Windows 10. Under the
Universal Windows Platform
Universal Windows Platform (UWP) is a computing platform created by Microsoft and first introduced in Windows 10. The purpose of this platform is to help develop universal apps that run on Windows 10, Windows 10 Mobile (discontinued), Windo ...
concept,
Windows Runtime
Windows Runtime (WinRT) is a platform-agnostic component and application architecture first introduced in Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012 in 2012. It is implemented in C++ and officially supports development in C++ (via C++/WinRT, C++/CX or ...
apps for Windows 10 on PC can be
ported
In software engineering, porting is the process of adapting software for the purpose of achieving some form of execution in a computing environment that is different from the one that a given program (meant for such execution) was originally desi ...
to other platforms in the Windows 10 family with nearly the same codebase, but with adaptations for specific device classes. Windows 10 Mobile also shares user interface elements with its PC counterpart, such as the updated Action Center and settings menu.
During its initial unveiling, Microsoft presented several examples of Windows apps that would have similar functionality and user interfaces between Windows 10 on desktops and mobile devices, including updated Photos and Maps apps, and new
Microsoft Office apps.
Although marketed as a converged platform, and as with
Windows Phone 8
Windows Phone 8 is the second generation of the Windows Phone mobile operating system from Microsoft. It was released on October 29, 2012, and, like its predecessor, it features a flat user interface based on the Metro design language. It was s ...
, using a
Windows NT
Windows NT is a proprietary graphical operating system produced by Microsoft, the first version of which was released on July 27, 1993. It is a processor-independent, multiprocessing and multi-user operating system.
The first version of Win ...
-based kernel, Windows 10 Mobile still cannot run
Win32
The Windows API, informally WinAPI, is Microsoft's core set of application programming interfaces (APIs) available in the Microsoft Windows operating systems. The name Windows API collectively refers to several different platform implementations th ...
desktop applications, but is compatible with software designed for Windows Phone 8.
Notifications can be synced between devices; dismissing a notification on, for example, a laptop, will also dismiss it from a phone. Certain types of notifications now allow inline replies. The start screen now has the option to display wallpapers as a background of the screen behind translucent tiles, rather than within the tiles.
The messaging app adds support for internet-based
Skype
Skype () is a proprietary telecommunications application operated by Skype Technologies, a division of Microsoft, best known for VoIP-based videotelephony, videoconferencing and voice calls. It also has instant messaging, file transfer, deb ...
messaging alongside
SMS
Short Message/Messaging Service, commonly abbreviated as SMS, is a text messaging service component of most telephone, Internet and mobile device systems. It uses standardized communication protocols that let mobile devices exchange short text ...
, similarly to Apple's
iMessage
iMessage is an instant messaging service developed by Apple Inc. and launched in 2011. iMessage functions exclusively on Apple platforms: macOS, iOS, iPadOS, and watchOS.
Core features of iMessage, available on all supported platforms, in ...
, and can synchronize these conversations with other devices.
The camera app has been updated to match the "Lumia Camera" app previously exclusive to
Lumia products,
and a new Photos app aggregates content from local storage and
OneDrive
Microsoft OneDrive (formerly SkyDrive) is a file hosting service operated by Microsoft. First launched in August 2007, it enables registered users to share and synchronize their files. OneDrive also works as the storage backend of the web vers ...
, and can perform automatic enhancements to photos.
The on-screen keyboard now contains a virtual pointing stick for manipulating the text editing cursor, a dedicated voice input button, and can be shifted towards the left or right of the screen to improve one-handed usability on larger devices.
Windows 10 Mobile supports "Continuum", a feature that allows supported devices to connect to an external display, and scale its user interface and apps into a "PC-like" desktop interface with support for mouse and keyboard input over USB or Bluetooth.
Devices can connect directly to external displays wirelessly using
Miracast
Miracast (also called screen mirroring and wireless display among other names on consumer devices) is a standard for wireless connections from sending devices (such as laptops, tablets, or smartphones) to display receivers (such as TVs, monitors, o ...
,
via
USB-C
USB-C (properly known as USB Type-C) is a 24-pin USB connector system with a rotationally symmetrical connector. The designation C refers only to the connector's physical configuration or form factor and should not be confused with the conn ...
, or via
docking station
In computing, a docking station or port replicator (hub) or dock provides a simplified way to ''plug-in'' a mobile device, such as a laptop, to common peripherals. Because a wide range of dockable devices—from mobile phones to wireless mou ...
accessories with USB ports, as well as
HDMI
High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) is a proprietary audio/video interface for transmitting uncompressed video data and compressed or uncompressed digital audio data from an HDMI-compliant source device, such as a display controlle ...
and
DisplayPort
DisplayPort (DP) is a digital display interface developed by a consortium of PC and chip manufacturers and standardized by the Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA). It is primarily used to connect a video source to a display device su ...
outputs.
A new iteration of the
Office Mobile
Microsoft Office, or simply Office, is the former name of a family of client software, server software, and services developed by Microsoft. It was first announced by Bill Gates on August 1, 1988, at COMDEX in Las Vegas. Initially a marketi ...
suite, Office for Windows 10, is also bundled. Based upon the
Android and
iOS
iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also include ...
versions of Office Mobile, they introduce a new user interface with a variation of the
ribbon toolbar used by the desktop version, and a new mobile version of
Outlook
Outlook or The Outlook may refer to:
Computing
* Microsoft Outlook, an e-mail and personal information management software product from Microsoft
* Outlook.com, a web mail service from Microsoft
* Outlook on the web, a suite of web applications ...
. Outlook utilizes the same rendering engine as the Windows desktop version of
Microsoft Word
Microsoft Word is a word processor, word processing software developed by Microsoft. It was first released on October 25, 1983, under the name ''Multi-Tool Word'' for Xenix systems. Subsequent versions were later written for several other pla ...
.
Microsoft Edge
Microsoft Edge is a proprietary, cross-platform web browser created by Microsoft. It was first released in 2015 as part of Windows 10 and Xbox One and later ported to other platforms as a fork of Google's Chromium open-source project: Android ...
replaces
Internet Explorer Mobile
Internet Explorer Mobile (formerly named Pocket Internet Explorer; later called IE Mobile) is a mobile version of Internet Explorer developed by Microsoft, based on versions of the MSHTML (Trident) layout engine. IE Mobile comes loaded by defaul ...
as the default web browser.
Release
Windows 10 Mobile's first-party launch devices—the
Lumia 950
Microsoft Lumia 950 (codenamed ''Talkman'', a reference to the old Nokia Talkman) is a smartphone developed by Microsoft, officially revealed on 6 October 2015 alongside the larger Lumia 950 XL. The phone was first released on AT&T in the United ...
,
Lumia 950 XL
The Microsoft Lumia 950 XL (codenamed ''Cityman'', a reference to the old Nokia Cityman) is a smartphone developed by Microsoft, officially revealed on October 6, 2015 and released on November 20, 2015 alongside the smaller Lumia 950. The Lumia ...
, and
Lumia 550—were released in November 2015 being the first phones to ship with Windows 10 Mobile.
Monthly updates to the OS software are being released to address bugs and security issues. These updates are distributed to all Windows 10 Mobile devices and do not require the intervention of a user's wireless carrier in order to authorize their distribution. Firmware upgrades will still require authorization by the user's carrier.
The
Windows Insider
Windows Insider is an open software testing program by Microsoft that allows users globally who own a valid license of Windows 11, Windows 10, or Windows Server to register for pre-release builds of the operating system previously only accessible ...
program, adopted to provide a public beta for the PC version of Windows 10,
is used to provide a public beta version of Windows 10 Mobile for selected devices.
A build released on April 10, 2015, was to support most second and third generation Lumia products, but the
Lumia 930
The Nokia Lumia 930 (codenamed Martini) is a high-end smartphone developed by Nokia that shipped with Microsoft's Windows Phone 8.1 operating system. It was announced on April 2, 2014 at Build (developer conference), Microsoft Build 2014 and was re ...
,
Lumia Icon
The Nokia Lumia Icon (originally known as the Lumia 929) is a high-end smartphone developed by Nokia that runs Microsoft's Windows Phone 8 operating system. It was announced on February 12, 2014, and released on Verizon Wireless in the United State ...
, and
Lumia 640 XL did not receive the update due to scaling bugs, and delivery was suspended as a whole due to backup and restore issues on some models.
An update to the
Windows Phone Recovery Tool
Microsoft Software Updater (earlier Nokia Software Updater and Ovi Suite Software Updater) is a Windows and OS X (though the Mac version is only in Beta) based application launched in 2006, that enables customers to update and recover their mob ...
resolved these concerns,
and delivery of Windows 10 updates was restored to the 520 with build 10052, and to the 640 with build 10080.
Build number 10136 was released on June 16, 2015, with a "migration bug" that required that existing devices on build 10080 be reverted to Windows Phone 8.1 using the Recovery Tool before the installation of 10136 could proceed.
This migration bug was fixed a week later with the release of build 10149.
Mobile builds of the Redstone branch till 14322 were halted for the device
Lumia 635 (1 GB RAM) due to bugs.
Upgrade release
Some Windows Phone 8.1 smartphones can be upgraded to Windows 10 Mobile, pursuant to hardware compatibility, manufacturer support, and carrier support. Not all phones can receive the update nor support all of its features.
Microsoft originally stated that stable upgrades for Windows Phone 8.1 devices would be released in December 2015; however, the release was ultimately delayed to March 17, 2016.
Among first-party devices, only the
Lumia 430,
435
__NOTOC__
Year 435 (Roman numerals, CDXXXV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Theodosius and Valentinianus (or, less f ...
,
532
__NOTOC__
Year 532 ( DXXXII) was a leap year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Second year after the Consulship of Lampadius and Probus (or, less frequently, y ...
,
535
__NOTOC__
Year 535 ( DXXXV) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Belisarius without colleague (or, less frequently, year 12 ...
,
540, 635 (1 GB RAM),
640,
640 XL,
735
__NOTOC__
Year 735 ( DCCXXXV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. The denomination 735 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar e ...
,
830
__NOTOC__
Year 830 ( DCCCXXX) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.
Events
By place Britain
* King Wiglaf of Mercia regains control from Wessex, and returns to the throne.S ...
,
929
Year 929 ( CMXXIX) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.
Events
By place
Europe
* January 16 – Emir Abd-al-Rahman III of Córdoba proclaims himself caliph and create ...
,
930 and
1520
__NOTOC__
Year 1520 ( MDXX) was a leap year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.
Events
January–June
* January 19 – King Christian II of Denmark and Norway defeats the Swedes, at ...
are supported. The only third-party devices supported are the
BLU Products
BLU Products (stylized as BLÜ) is an American company, headquartered in Miami. BLU rebrands low-cost mobile phones manufactured by ODMs such as Koobee (China), QiKU (China), Gionee (China), Doogee (China) and Tinno Mobile (China).
The name B ...
Win HD w510u and Win HD LTE x150q, and the MCJ Madosma Q501. Windows 10 Mobile does not officially support any
HTC
HTC Corporation ( zh, t=宏達國際電子股份有限公司, s=宏达国际电子股份有限公司, p=Hóngdá Guójì Diànzǐ Gǔfèn Yǒuxiàn Gōngsī, first=t) or High Tech Computer Corporation, (literally ''Hongda International Electron ...
devices (
HTC One M8 for Windows,
HTC Windows Phone 8X
The Windows Phone 8X by HTC (codenamed Accord) is a smartphone that was announced by HTC Corporation on September 19, 2012.
Availability
North America
;United States
The HTC 8x is currently available on T-Mobile US,
Verizon, and AT&T. Only ...
,
HTC Windows Phone 8S
The Windows Phone 8S by HTC was announced by HTC Corporation on September 19, 2012 and released on December 7, 2012 in Canada. It is a cheaper, lower-end version of the HTC Windows Phone 8X, Windows Phone 8X by HTC. Despite its availability in C ...
), although the HTC One M8 for Windows could be upgraded to the public release version of Windows 10 Mobile through the
Windows Insider
Windows Insider is an open software testing program by Microsoft that allows users globally who own a valid license of Windows 11, Windows 10, or Windows Server to register for pre-release builds of the operating system previously only accessible ...
program. While Microsoft stated that the
Nokia Lumia Icon may be upgraded at a later date, the company stated that there will not be a second wave of officially supported devices. Microsoft also removed statements which promoted the BLU Win JR LTE as being compatible with Windows 10.
Microsoft originally stated that all
Lumia smartphones running Windows Phone 8 and 8.1 would receive updates to 10, but Microsoft later reiterated that only devices with the "Lumia Denim" firmware revision and at least 8 GB of internal storage would receive the upgrade.
In February 2015,
Joe Belfiore
Joe Belfiore is an American business executive who has held various roles at Microsoft since August 1990, mostly in the field of user experience. He is currently the Corporate Vice President in the Experiences and Devices division of Microsoft. ...
stated that Microsoft was working on support for devices with 512 MB of RAM, (such as the popular
Nokia Lumia 520
The Nokia Lumia 520 is an entry-level Windows Phone 8 smartphone announced by Nokia at the 2013 Mobile World Congress.
In September 2013, the Lumia 520 became the best-selling Windows device in the world, selling more units than any other model ...
),
but these plans have since been dropped. Upon the official upgrade release, some Lumia models, particularly the
Lumia 1020
The Nokia Lumia 1020 (known as Lumia 909 during development) is a smartphone developed by Nokia, first unveiled on 11 July 2013 at a Nokia event in New York. It runs Windows Phone 8, but is also Windows Phone 8.1 ready. It contains Nokia's Pure ...
and
1320
Year 1320 ( MCCCXX) was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.
Events
January–December
* January 20 – Duke Wladyslaw Lokietek becomes king of Poland.
* April 6 – T ...
, were excluded despite meeting the previously announced criteria. Microsoft cited poor user feedback on the performance of preview builds on these models as reasoning.
On October 17, 2017, Nearly 2 years after the Windows 10 release, Microsoft released an Over-The-Cable (OTC) Updater tool to bring all Lumias up to date to the latest supported Windows 10 build, even older 512 MB and 1 GB RAM unlocked devices such as the 520, 620, 720, 925, 920 etc. which were updated using the tool to Build 10586 (November Update).
Devices
As with Windows Phone, Windows 10 Mobile supports
ARM
In human anatomy, the arm refers to the upper limb in common usage, although academically the term specifically means the upper arm between the glenohumeral joint (shoulder joint) and the elbow joint. The distal part of the upper limb between th ...
system-on-chip
A system on a chip or system-on-chip (SoC ; pl. ''SoCs'' ) is an integrated circuit that integrates most or all components of a computer or other electronic system. These components almost always include a central processing unit (CPU), memor ...
s from
Qualcomm's
Snapdragon
''Antirrhinum'' is a genus of plants commonly known as dragon flowers, snapdragons and dog flower because of the flowers' fancied resemblance to the face of a dragon that opens and closes its mouth when laterally squeezed. They are native to r ...
line. In March 2015, ''
Ars Technica'' reported that the operating system will also introduce support for
IA-32
IA-32 (short for "Intel Architecture, 32-bit", commonly called i386) is the 32-bit version of the x86 instruction set architecture, designed by Intel and first implemented in the 80386 microprocessor in 1985. IA-32 is the first incarnation o ...
system-on-chips from
Intel
Intel Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California. It is the world's largest semiconductor chip manufacturer by revenue, and is one of the developers of the x86 seri ...
and
AMD
Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD) is an American multinational semiconductor company based in Santa Clara, California, that develops computer processors and related technologies for business and consumer markets. While it initially manufactur ...
, including Intel's Atom x3 and
Cherry Trail Atom x5 and x7, and AMD's
Carrizo.
These plans never materialized
Minimum specifications for Windows 10 Mobile devices are similar to those of Windows Phone 8, with a minimum screen resolution of 800×480 (854×480 if software buttons are in use), 1 GB of RAM and 8 GB of internal storage.
Owing to hardware advancements and the operating system's support for tablets, screen resolutions can now reach as high as
QSXGA resolution (2560×2048) and further, as opposed to the
1080p
1080p (1920×1080 progressively displayed pixels; also known as Full HD or FHD, and BT.709) is a set of HDTV high-definition video modes characterized by 1,920 pixels displayed across the screen horizontally and 1,080 pixels down the screen ve ...
cap of Windows Phone 8. The minimum amount of RAM required is dictated by the screen's resolution; screens with a resolution 800×480 or 960×540 and higher require 1 GB, 1920×1080 (
FHD
1080p (1920×1080 Progressive_scan, progressively displayed pixels; also known as Full HD or FHD, and Rec. 709, BT.709) is a set of High-definition television, HDTV high-definition video modes characterized by 1,920 pixels displayed across the scr ...
) or 1440×900 and higher require 2 GB, and 2560×1440 and higher require 3 GB.
Microsoft unveiled flagship
Lumia smartphones bundled with Windows 10 during a media event on October 6, 2015, including
Lumia 950
Microsoft Lumia 950 (codenamed ''Talkman'', a reference to the old Nokia Talkman) is a smartphone developed by Microsoft, officially revealed on 6 October 2015 alongside the larger Lumia 950 XL. The phone was first released on AT&T in the United ...
,
Lumia 950 XL
The Microsoft Lumia 950 XL (codenamed ''Cityman'', a reference to the old Nokia Cityman) is a smartphone developed by Microsoft, officially revealed on October 6, 2015 and released on November 20, 2015 alongside the smaller Lumia 950. The Lumia ...
, and the low-end
Lumia 550.
Version history
First release (version 1511)
Microsoft announced Windows 10 Mobile during their January 21, 2015 event "The Next Chapter". The first Windows 10 Mobile build was rolled out on February 12, 2015, as part of the
Windows Insider
Windows Insider is an open software testing program by Microsoft that allows users globally who own a valid license of Windows 11, Windows 10, or Windows Server to register for pre-release builds of the operating system previously only accessible ...
Program to a subset of
mobile devices running Windows Phone 8 and
8.1
Windows 8.1 is a release of the Windows NT operating system developed by Microsoft. It was released to manufacturing on August 27, 2013, and broadly released for retail sale on October 17, 2013, about a year after the retail release of its pre ...
. As with the desktop editions of Windows 10, this initial release was codenamed "Threshold", it was part of both the "Threshold 1" and "Threshold 2" development cycles.
Windows 10 Mobile launched with the
Microsoft Lumia 550
Microsoft Lumia 550 is a budget smartphone manufactured by Microsoft Mobile as part of its Lumia family of Windows-based mobile computing products. It was introduced along with the Lumia 950 and the Lumia 950 XL on 6 October 2015 at a press even ...
,
950
Year 950 ( CML) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.
Events
By place
Byzantine Empire
* Arab–Byzantine War: A Hamdanid army (30,000 men) led by Sayf al-Dawla raids int ...
and
950 XL. The rollout for
Windows Phone 8.1
Windows Phone 8.1 is the discontinued third generation of Microsoft's Windows Phone mobile operating system, succeeding Windows Phone 8. Rolled out at Microsoft's Build Conference in San Francisco, California, on April 2, 2014, it was released ...
devices started March 17, 2016.
Anniversary Update (version 1607)
On February 19, 2016, Microsoft restarted the rollout of full builds for the first feature update, officially known as the "Anniversary Update" or "Version 1607",
codenamed ''"''Redstone 1''"''. Like the start of the previous wave, the first builds were not available to all devices that were included in the Windows Insider Program.
Creators Update (version 1703) and Fall Creators Update (version 1709)
The Creators Update (named after the equivalent update to Windows 10 for PC), also known as Redstone 2, was first previewed on the Insider branch on August 17, 2016. and began deployment on April 25, 2017. It features mainly minor feature additions, including an e-book reader within Edge, the ability to turn off the phone screen when using Continuum mode on an external display, SMS support in Skype, SD card encryption, and other changes. Despite the platform's synergy with Windows 10 for PCs, some of its features (such as Night Light and Paint 3D) were excluded.
Around the time that the Creators Update was finalized, Windows Insider users began to be issued updates on a branch known as ''feature2''. Microsoft stated that there were no plans to move Windows 10 Mobile to be in sync with the other Windows 10-platforms just yet; media outlets considered this decision to be a sign that Microsoft was beginning to wind down active development of Windows 10 Mobile beyond maintenance releases, as development was no longer directly in sync with the PC version.
The Creators Update was only offered to eleven existing Windows 10 Mobile devices, of which nine would later receive the Fall Creators Update:
*
Alcatel Idol 4S and 4S Pro
* Alcatel OneTouch Fierce XL
*
HP Elite x3
HP Elite x3 is a premium Windows 10 Mobile smartphone produced by Hewlett-Packard. It was officially announced on February 21, 2016, and released later that year.
Specifications
The HP Elite x3 was built for enterprise users with several enterp ...
* Lenovo Softbank 503LV
* MCJ Madosma Q601 †
*
Microsoft Lumia 550
Microsoft Lumia 550 is a budget smartphone manufactured by Microsoft Mobile as part of its Lumia family of Windows-based mobile computing products. It was introduced along with the Lumia 950 and the Lumia 950 XL on 6 October 2015 at a press even ...
*
Microsoft Lumia 640 and 640 XL †
*
Microsoft Lumia 650
The Microsoft Lumia 650 is a smartphone developed by Microsoft, officially revealed on February 15, 2016. It is the successor to the Microsoft Lumia 640 and is aimed primarily at business users, with support for Microsoft's business applications ...
*
Microsoft Lumia 950
Microsoft Lumia 950 (codenamed ''Talkman'', a reference to the old Nokia Talkman) is a smartphone developed by Microsoft, officially revealed on 6 October 2015 alongside the larger Lumia 950 XL. The phone was first released on AT&T in the United ...
and
950 XL
* Trinity NuAns Neo
* VAIO Phone Biz (VPB051)
† indicates a phone that is incompatible with the Fall Creators Update.
In early June 2017, a private build, briefly deployed by accident by Microsoft, revealed work on an updated interface for Windows 10 Mobile known as "CShell" ("composable shell"), an implementation of the
Windows shell
The Windows shell is the graphical user interface for the Microsoft Windows operating system. Its readily identifiable elements consist of the desktop, the taskbar, the Start menu, the task switcher and the AutoPlay feature. On some versions of W ...
across device classes using a modular system. The build featured a Start screen, Action Center, and Continuum desktop interface that were nearly identical in functionality and appearance to their equivalents on Windows 10 for PC. However, this iteration of the operating system was no longer backwards compatible with Windows Phone
Silverlight
Microsoft Silverlight is a discontinued application framework designed for writing and running rich web applications, similar to Adobe Inc., Adobe's Run time environment, runtime, Adobe Flash. A plugin for Silverlight is still available for a v ...
apps.
Reception
Reception of Windows 10 Mobile was mixed. In its review of the
Lumia 950 XL
The Microsoft Lumia 950 XL (codenamed ''Cityman'', a reference to the old Nokia Cityman) is a smartphone developed by Microsoft, officially revealed on October 6, 2015 and released on November 20, 2015 alongside the smaller Lumia 950. The Lumia ...
, ''
The Verge
''The Verge'' is an American technology news website operated by Vox Media, publishing news, feature stories, guidebooks, product reviews, consumer electronics news, and podcasts.
The website launched on November 1, 2011, and uses Vox Media ...
'' felt that the platform was "buggy and unfinished", and that its user interface was inconsistent in operation and felt more like
Android mixed with few of the distinct design elements that were hallmarks of Windows Phone. It was noted that the OS still retained much of the performance of Windows Phone 8, and that Microsoft had made efforts to create synergies with the PC version of Windows 10 via its universal apps concept. Continuum was regarded as potentially being a signature feature over time, but that it was merely a "parlor trick" in its launch state due to a lack of support for desktop-oriented interfaces among third-party software. ''TechRadar'' felt that the lack of apps was the "biggest let-down on Windows Phone and Windows 10 Mobile alike." After many user complaints, Microsoft started allowing users to downgrade from Windows 10 Mobile to Windows Phone 8.1.
Financial results
According to the Form 10-K For The Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 2016 revenue from Phone business was $3,358 million comparing to $7,702 million in 2015 and $3,073 million in 2014.
The year before, Microsoft Corporation disclosed
information on sales of Phone Hardware:
In addition, in the Form 10-K For The Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 2015
corporation disclosed that management decided to spend "$2.5 billion of integration and restructuring expenses, primarily costs associated with restructuring plans" which includes the cost of mass dismissal of staff.
Discontinuation
On October 8, 2017, Microsoft executive
Joe Belfiore
Joe Belfiore is an American business executive who has held various roles at Microsoft since August 1990, mostly in the field of user experience. He is currently the Corporate Vice President in the Experiences and Devices division of Microsoft. ...
revealed that the company would no longer actively develop new features or hardware for Windows phones, citing its low market share, and the resultant lack of third-party software for the platform. Microsoft had largely abandoned its mobile business, having laid off the majority of Microsoft Mobile employees in 2016, sold a number of intellectual property and manufacturing assets (including, in particular, the
Nokia
Nokia Corporation (natively Nokia Oyj, referred to as Nokia) is a Finnish multinational telecommunications, information technology, and consumer electronics corporation, established in 1865. Nokia's main headquarters are in Espoo, Finland, i ...
feature phone
A feature phone (also spelled featurephone) is a type or class of mobile phone that retains the form factor of earlier generations of mobile telephones, typically with press-button based inputs and a small non-touch display. They tend to use an ...
business) to
HMD Global
HMD Global Oy, branded as HMD and Nokia Mobile, is a Finnish mobile phone manufacturer. The company is made up of the mobile phone business that Nokia sold to Microsoft in 2014, then bought back in 2016. HMD began marketing Nokia-branded smar ...
and
Foxconn
Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd., trading as Hon Hai Technology Group in China and Taiwan and Foxconn internationally, is a Taiwanese multinational electronics contract manufacturer established in 1974 with headquarters in Tucheng, New ...
(which began producing Android-based smartphones under the Nokia brand) focused software efforts on providing apps and services compatible with the incumbent
Android and
iOS
iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also include ...
instead, and having since released
dual-touchscreen
A dual-touchscreen is a computer or phone display setup which uses two screens, either or both of which could be touch-capable, to display both elements of the computer's graphical user interface and virtualized implementations of common input dev ...
Android smartphones under the
Surface Duo brand. Development of Windows 10 Mobile would be limited to maintenance releases and patches.
By December 2018, Statcounter had reported Windows 10 Mobile's market share to be 0.33%.
In January 2019, Microsoft announced that Windows 10 Mobile will reach
end of life on December 10, 2019, after which no further security updates will be released, and online services tied to the OS (such as device backup) will begin to be phased out. However, Microsoft quietly moved the EOL date back to January 14, 2020 (aligned with the EOL date for
Windows 7
Windows 7 is a major release of the Windows NT operating system developed by Microsoft. It was released to manufacturing on July 22, 2009, and became generally available on October 22, 2009. It is the successor to Windows Vista, released nearly ...
) with one additional security update released.
See also
*
References
{{Mobile operating systems
ARM operating systems
Mobile operating systems
Smartphones
Windows Phone
Tablet operating systems
Discontinued versions of Microsoft Windows