Microsoft is embracing Android as the mobile version of Windows

The Android app mirroring will be part of Microsoft's new Your Phone app for Windows 10. This app debuts this week as part of the Windows 10 October 2018 Update, but the app mirroring part won't likely appear until next year. Microsoft briefly demonstrated how it will work, though; you'll be able to simply mirror your phone screen straight onto Windows 10 through the Your Phone app, which will have a list of your Android apps. You can tap to access them and have them appear in the remote session of your phone.We've seen a variety of ways of bringing Android apps to Windows in recent years, including Bluestacks and even Dell's Mobile Connect software. This app mirroring is certainly easier to do with Android, as it's less restricted than iOS. Still, Microsoft's welcoming embrace of Android in Windows 10 with this app mirroring is just the latest in a number of steps the company has taken recently to really help align Android as the mobile equivalent of Windows.

Microsoft has its own Android application launcher, e-mail client (Outlook on both Android and iOS is actually quite good), browser (Edge is available on Android), Cortana, this application mirroring, and other things.

At this point, one has to wonder why Microsoft simply doesn't just release an Android phone altogether. Imagine a Surface phone, with a similar industrial design, but running Android with Microsoft's applications on top. I have no idea if such a product would be popular with consumers, and I personally would still really actually want Windows Phone to come back from the dead and magically become successful, but I'd definitely be intrigued by such a Microsoft Android phone.