Most of Windows Phone’s business comes from one supplier, Nokia. For the past few years, the Finnish company has been the only one pushing out top quality smartphones, with HTC and Samsung slipping out of the platform in favor of Android.
It looks like Samsung wants to get back into Windows Phone, SamMobile has found evidence of an ATIV Core, a mid-range Windows Phone 8.1 device, possibly coming alongside the ATIV SE for Verizon Wireless.
This would bring a second manufacturer onto Windows Phone 8.1, Microsoft’s newest update to the platform, revealed at their BUILD conference yesterday. We do not have a date for when the update will be released.
Specifications for the ATIV Core include a 4.5-inch 1280 x 720 resolution display, 1GB of RAM and 2100mAh battery. Not sure on the processor, we suspect Samsung will add the quad-core Snapdragon 400, like most manufacturers.
A mid-range Windows Phone 8.1 smartphone from Samsung is not very exciting and we doubt it will surpass Nokia’s line of Lumia devices, but it as least some competition in the Windows Phone space, something Microsoft desperately needs.
There has been talk of Microsoft penning a deal with Samsung to make Windows Phone devices, but this looks like a rather weak sauce opener from Samsung for the $1 billion a year deal they reportedly worked out.
We need to see real competition on the high-end of the spectrum, like the Galaxy S5 running Windows Phone 8.1. We have heard rumors that the new HTC One (M8) will be ported over onto Windows Phone 8.1 with the same specs, which could open up competition in the high-end.
Windows Phone 8.1 brings with it Cortana, a new virtual assistant, along with Action Center for notifications and new Skype integration into voice call. Microsoft has added lots of features for developers and worked on making the home-screen and lock-screen more customisable.
