Updated

Updated · Windows Central · Aug 11

Microsoft's 2014 Surface Phone Prototype Emerges With 720p Screen as Nokia Deal Likely Halted It

Updated

Updated · Windows Central · Aug 11

Microsoft's 2014 Surface Phone Prototype Emerges With 720p Screen as Nokia Deal Likely Halted It

Q: What secret flaw forced Microsoft to kill this premium prototype and bet billions on Nokia instead?

There is no evidence of a hidden technical flaw that “forced” Microsoft to cancel the prototype. The strongest reporting points to a strategic decision: Microsoft shelved the in-house Surface-style phone after deciding to buy Nokia’s handset business in 2013–2014, a deal worth roughly $7.2 billion to $9.5 billion depending on what is counted. The leaked device, possibly codenamed Raven, appears to have been a serious internal concept rather than a failed product with a known fatal defect. What is visible suggests a premium but not cutting-edge phone for the time: a 720p display, Qualcomm chip, metal frame, and an early Windows Phone 8.1 build from September 2013. Nothing in the surfaced material shows a specific hardware failure, software bug, or manufacturing problem that killed it. What likely doomed it was Microsoft’s larger mobile problem. Windows Phone was already losing badly to iPhone and Android, and Microsoft lacked the app ecosystem, developer support, and market share needed to justify multiple competing phone hardware tracks. Buying Nokia gave Microsoft manufacturing, carrier relationships, distribution, and the Lumia line in one move, making an internal Surface phone harder to justify. In hindsight, the real flaw was not in the prototype itself but in Microsoft’s broader mobile strategy. The Nokia bet consumed billions, led to major write-downs and layoffs, and still failed to save Windows Phone, which Microsoft effectively ended in 2017.

2 articles · Updated · Windows Central · Aug 11

Newly published images show a canceled Microsoft phone prototype from 2013-2014—possibly codenamed Raven—offering the clearest look yet at the Surface-branded handset long rumored for 2014.
The device appears to run a September 2013 pre-release build of Windows Phone 8.1 and carries Surface-era hardware cues, including a silver metal frame, Microsoft branding and dedicated navigation keys.
Available details point to an unknown Qualcomm chip, a 720p display, micro-USB, headphone jack, SIM slot, separate volume buttons, a camera key and a top-mounted power button.
Development was likely shelved when Microsoft moved to acquire Nokia in 2014, after which it shipped Lumia models before abandoning Windows Phone in 2017.
Microsoft's eventual Surface phone effort took a different path: the dual-screen Surface Duo began development in 2016 and launched in 2020.