Microsoft Surface Phone: double details fit to battle Apple and Samsung

Microsoft leaves clues for the impending launch of a Surface Phone for Windows Phone (or Windows 10, if you prefer) every time they release a new product. Each new piece of manufacturing tells us more about the direction the company is going in. And with a number of insider sources speaking up over the past couple of weeks amid shouts from the masses for a more substantial effort from Microsoft, it might be time, sooner than you think. Sooner than the end of next year, that is to say.

When the Surface Book was revealed earlier this year, Wired took a tour of Microsoft's Building 87. In that building, they described seeing what very well may be the newest iteration of the Surface Phone. "A few machines away, another machine works on a prototype of a new phone. And there are rooms everywhere in Building 87—top-secret ones—filled with new devices."

Surface Phone release date tipped for 2nd half of 2016

They were speaking with Microsoft devices engineering boss Panos Panay, and this machine they speak of was just "a few machines away" from the Surface Book's own CNC machine doing work on the next big thing. Whether or not the phone in question was THE device we'll see next year – that's up for debate.

According to sources speaking with Nokia Power User earlier today, two Surface phones are on the way. One would be small, the other would be tall. Sound like a strategy any other smartphone maker is taking right now?

Surface Phone

Display: 5.2-inch, 2K QHD (1440 x 2560 pixel)

Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 820

RAM: 3-4GB

Camera: 16-megapixel, 4K video, dual-LED flash

Front-facing camera: 8-megapixel, 1080p video

Internal storage size: 32GB, 64GB

Special Features: IR scanner for "Hello"

Surface Phone XL

Display: 5.5 or 6-inch, 2K QHD (1440 x 2560 pixel)

Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 820

RAM: 3-4GB

Camera: 16-megapixel, 4K video, dual-LED flash

Front-facing camera: 8-megapixel, 1080p video

Internal storage size: 32GB, 64GB

Special Features: IR scanner for "Hello", possible Surface Pen support (hardware not necessarily in the box)

The information you see above is based on unconfirmed "insider" sources who speak on condition of anonymity. We'll not know the full, true specifications of these devices until well into the year 2016.