Satya Nadella has announced on Thursday that Microsoft will make no more Nokia X smartphones. The Nokia X lineup of devices run on a customized version of Android instead of Microsoft’s own operation system Windows Phone and were announced during MWC 2014 in Barcelona.
In addition, we plan to shift select Nokia X product designs to become Lumia products running Windows. This builds on our success in the affordable smartphone space and aligns with our focus on Windows Universal Apps.
The low-budget Nokia X devices have been doing very well and it is surprising to see Microsoft’s new CEO Satya Nadella cancel these successful devices as more then 4 million were pre-ordered in China alone.
Nokia launched the Nokia X lineup of devices before Microsoft acquired it, the cancellation of future Nokia X devices is the first big change Microsoft has made since it has acquired the Finnish smartphone manufacturer. According to Microsoft, the decision of Nokia to start selling Android smartphones is “embarrassing” (source)
The Nokia X lineup won’t disappear
Instead, Microsoft has confirmed it will release future Nokia X devices with its own operation system, Windows Phone. This announcement was part of Nadella’s plan of eliminating more then 18.000 employees from Nokia. We can expect the first Nokia X devices running Windows Phone to appear early 2015.
