Surface Phone speculation spurred by new phone APIs in Windows

Enlarge / The "Surface Phone" is speculated to be some kind of dual-screen device. (credit: Microsoft)

The rumors that Microsoft is developing some kind of phone-like device (perhaps a "Surface Phone" or "Andromeda") have been floating around for years, with little concrete evidence that such a thing exists. But the latest Windows 10 Insider Preview has given new fuel for the speculative fire: it has a set of new APIs for cellular phones.

Windows has had integrated support for cell modems since Windows 8, but this has been restricted to supporting data connections. Telephony-dialing numbers, placing calls-has always required either Windows Phone or Windows 10 Mobile, which has made the full Windows 10 unsuitable for a phone.

That may be changing. Windows 10 build 17650-a preview of Redstone 5, the next Windows update after the delayed April update-includes some telephony APIs. The new APIs cover support for a range of typical phone features: dialing numbers and contacts, blocking withheld numbers, support for Bluetooth headsets and speakerphone mode, and so on. There also looks to be some kind of video-calling support, suggesting support for 3G or LTE video calling.

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