News

Windows Phone 8 Support Ending July 2014

Mainstream support for Microsoft's Windows Phone 8 smartphone platform, including security updates, will end on July 8, 2014.

Web site Engadget reported on a short Microsoft support document listing the end-of-support date on Monday morning. The document also indicates that support for Windows Phone 7.8, the update for Windows Phone 7 and 7.5 devices which were not upgradeable to the latest version of the platform, will end Sept. 9, 2014.

Each platform has an 18-month mainstream support period, according to the Microsoft document. For Windows Phone 8, that period began on Dec. 14, though the platform itself launched in late October. For Windows Phone 7.8, that 18-month period began on Feb. 9 -- roughly a week after Microsoft first announced it was rolling out the update to Windows Phone 7 and 7.5 users.

Windows Phone 7.8 is aimed at users of older Windows Phone devices, which cannot be upgraded to Windows Phone 8 due to the new platform's higher hardware requirements. However, Windows Phone 8 is expected to have an upgrade path to the next platform version. During last month's Mobile World Congress event, Microsoft Senior Marketing Manager Greg Sullivan told PCMag.com that Windows Phone 8 has "an architecture that enables portability and is fundamentally hardware independent," allowing the devices to adapt to different hardware requirements.

The next release of Windows Phone is rumored to be code-named "Blue," coinciding with the multiple-product update wave Microsoft is reportedly planning to release this year. A recent Microsoft job posting suggests that the next major Windows Phone update will be released around this year's holiday season.

About the Author

Gladys Rama (@GladysRama3) is the editorial director of Converge360.

Featured

  • Windows 365 Cloud Apps Now Available for Public Preview

    Microsoft announced this week that Windows 365 Cloud Apps are now available for public preview. This aims to allow IT administrators to stream individual Windows applications from the cloud, removing the need to assign Cloud PCs to every user.

  • Report: Security Initiatives Can't Keep Pace with Cloud, AI Boom

    The increasingly fast adoption of hybrid, multicloud, and AI systems is easily outgrowing existing security measures, according to a recent global survey by the Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) and exposure management firm Tenable.

  • World Map Image

    Microsoft Taps Nebius in $17B AI Infrastructure Deal To Alleviate Cloud Strain

    Microsoft has signed a five-year, $17.4 billion agreement with Amsterdam-based Nebius Group to expand its AI computing capabilities through third-party GPU infrastructure.

  • Microsoft Brings Copilot AI Into Viva Engage

    Microsoft 365 Copilot in Viva Engage is now generally available, extending Copilot's AI-powered assistant capabilities deeper into the Viva platform.