Microsoft hasn’t really been active in the smartphone market lately but it has been providing support for the handsets that are still out there. There are still quite a few people holding on to their Windows Phone 8.1 smartphones. They would want to know that Microsoft has confirmed that it’s going to end mainstream support for Windows Phone 8.1 tomorrow.
Even though Windows 10 Mobile has been out for quite some time now, Windows Phone 8.1 still powers the majority of the Windows Phone-powered smartphones in the market today. According to some estimates, more than 70 percent of Windows Phone users are running the aforementioned iteration of the platform.
Microsoft has released the Upgrade Advisor app for many Windows Phone 8.1 handsets so that users can upgrade to Windows 10 Mobile. However, the app hasn’t been released for all handsets, so there are many still out there that may or may not be updated to Windows 10 Mobile.
Microsoft confirmed on the product lifecycle support page for Windows Phone 8.1 that it would extend mainstream support for the platform for at least 36 months after the lifecycle start date, which in this case is June 24th, 2017.
The time period mentioned on the page has lapsed but Microsoft isn’t ending support for the platform entirely. It will continue to release minor security updates for Windows Phone 8.1 over the coming months even though it’s no longer going to release any new feature-packed updates.
Filed in . Read more about Microsoft, Windows 10 Mobile and Windows Phone 8.1. Source: support.microsoft