Microsoft's phone revenue dropped by 71% in Q4 FY 2016

It's not exactly a surprise to learn that revenues from Microsoft's phone divison dropped by a massive 71% year-to-year during its fiscal year 2016 fourth quarter.

Micrsoft's numbers showed that its overall devices business went down by 33% during the quarter, offset somewhat by the 9% rise in revenue from its Surface division. Microsoft did not share any specific unit sales numbers for its Lumia smartphones from the last quarter. The company has been drastically reducing its smartphone hardware efforts, but Microsoft has said it will continue to support Windows 10 Mobile.

That includes the use of the OS in the upcoming HP Elite x3 "superphone," and there are still, of course, rumors that Microsoft is working on a high-end "Surface" branded phone that could launch in 2017.

John Callaham