Isn't that a buildup to the so called 'surface phone'?
I personally am of the opinion that the new phone from Microsoft will be a step above or apart from the current phones. It's what the surface lineup is all about. I don't think they'd try to go head on with huge similarities. Just my opinion but that's the context i meant it in.
IDK about "surface phone". I know they'll be releasing Andromeda but its not a candybar slab, runs on a separate OS SKU, and likely won't be here till next year.
And if the fabled surface phone is a thing, I doubt that'll be out till next year either.
So given they said continuum improvements and nitelite would be released in CU (but they weren't), stated that productivity features would be coming late summer, and heavily implied that timeline, Cortana skills and files on demand would come to win10 mobile (I'd guess in the FCU, or round then, given that's when it comes to PC) - surely those would release on devices that actually exist?
Yes, I believe they'll want to move to 64 bit, and I even believe that MSFT has some "phones" planned for next year, but they can't drop support for existing phones WHEN THERE ARE NO OTHER PHONES.
MFST is also insanely generous with support windows for its phones. All those phones that got 10, and then even those get CU on insiders preview, just as a fan gesture. Android and apple don't do that stuff.
Windoiws on arm, on tablets and laptops, is strategically huge for UWP. I'd also be letting that kick in before a new handset - you don't want all your new products released at once.
Transition is all about "hand over". That's why 7.8. That's why so many phones got 10. Why they even rolled out CU to those who wanted it, but weren't supported. That's why there isn't any real likelihood IMO of dropped support for the big four, until an actual new handset is released, and selling well.
There are still people using 8, so its not like all the people with 950's and x3s will all line up to swap their phone the moment whatever 1000 dollar behemoth comes out actually does.
And as I pointed out, why are these features like files on demand, and cshell even being demo'd on 32 bit machines at all, if all future chips by nature of QUALCOMM are going to be 64 bit? If they intended to drop support for all existing phones with these features, cshell wouldn't even run on a 32 bit cpu.