Lenovo COO says it has no plans for Windows phones, doubts Microsoft's future support for OS

Lenovo's Chief Operating Officer Gianfranco Lanci says that the company has no plans to launch a Windows smartphone, and doesn't have much confidence that Microsoft will support the OS in the future.

Lenovo is one of the biggest hardware supporters for Windows 10 on the PC and tablet side, and in 2015 the company did announce plans to launch a Windows phone in its home country of China that never materialized. Earlier this year, it was revealed that Lenovo was making a Windows 10 Mobile phone, the SoftBank 503LV, for release in Japan this year or in early 2017.

However, if Lanci is to be believed, those plans have now changed. The Next Web quotes him as saying:

"I don't see the need to introduce a Windows Phone and I am not convinced Microsoft is supporting the phone for the future," Lanci said.

Microsoft, for its part, has stated repeatedly it plans to continue developing and supporting Windows 10 Mobile, and even revealed some future improvements for the OS last week at its Ignite IT conference that could be released sometime in early 2017.

John Callaham