Death looms for Lumia as Microsoft readies the Surface Phone

Microsoft is set to kill off its Lumia phone line before the end of the year, fueling speculation that we'll soon see the long-rumored Surface Phone.

A Microsoft employee has told Winbeta it will "end sales" of the Lumia range at some point this year.

Winbeta believes the source misspoke, and meant that Microsoft will be ending production of Lumia phones in December 2016 and will then sell through its existing stock in the following months.

That means you may be able to pick up a great deal on a Microsoft Lumia 950 or Lumia 950 XL in the January sales next year.

RIP Lumia

This matches with information we heard last week about the Surface Phone finally launching. Microsoft's Director of Engineering, Laura Butler, tweeted "Surface Phone is not NOT confirmed".

The double negative makes this a little more suspect than an unambiguous confirmation, but unless that was a mistake, it looks like the Surface Phone will be launching at some point in the next few months.

Winbeta also suggests the phone will be ready for an October launch, but the exact timing is currently unclear.

We haven't seen many leaks on the Surface Phone recently, however, which means an October release is a little less likely than we'd hoped for – we won't have to wait much longer to find out.

• Microsoft's alleged plans for the Surface Phone are hugely ambitious

Via Pocket-Lint