Microsoft has confirmed that it is ending support for the Windows Phone 8.1, marking the end of the Windows Phone era less than seven years after its launch.
Within three years of its release back in 2010, the Windows Phone operating system became the third most popular in the world, just behind iOS and Android, but struggled to compete with Apple and Google as they upped their game and offered increasingly powerful hardware and software combinations.
Although Microsoft has continued to sell a small number of its budget Windows smartphones that run on its newer Windows 10 Mobile operating system, the platform has only offered minor updates and tweaks.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdpQir1sqiQ
Since then, Microsoft has quit manufacturing its own Microsoft Lumia smartphones, and the company is expected to end support for Windows 10 Mobile in 2018.
Microsoft paid an eye-watering $7.2 billion for Nokia to increase its smartphone market share, but wrote it off in 2015 claiming the acquisition was a “failure”.
What do you make of today’s news? Are you sad to see Windows Phone era come to an end? Let us know on Twitter using @AppleMagazine.