The Surface Phone has been essentially confirmed by Microsoft but when exactly the flagship device, powered by Windows 10, will drop is still a big question mark. Thankfully, the next best thing is likely to get a release date real soon - the sequel to HP's Elite X3.
A concept of what appeared as the follow up to the HP Elite X3 was spotted by PC World during the MWC 2017 and the "quiet appearance," was the later indicator that HP intends to provide a mobile device that has the computing capabilities normally found on a desktop machine. And most likely, the handset will debut ahead of Microsoft's Surface Phone.
According to the same report, if the device displayed by HP was of any indication there will be notable changes to expect. One is that the front camera has been moved to the right side of the front display. And as if in accordance to the ongoing trend of smartphones with all-screen profile, the new Elite X3 will have a front panel that is nearly bezel free, PC World added on its report.
Another tweak cited in the report is the absence of speaker grill where it usually was located in the original device and the likelihood of revised antenna implementation.
As the device was wrapped in glass case, it was clear that HP plans to keep things under wraps until the right time so no detailed specs were provided like what will be the main engine that will be the driving force for the handset.
To be sure, the new Elite X3 will jump from the Snapdragon 820 that powered up everything and the most solid candidate will be the Snapdragon 835. This is in line with Microsoft's recent confirmation that the SD 835 chip will indeed be supported to run natively x86 apps in Windows 10, WCCFTech said in a related report.
But if SD 835 will be running the Elite X3 2.0 show, the same report added that rollout time for the device is not happening very soon. That's because productions yields for the 10nm FinFET chipsets have been reported to be at low numbers, hinting that delivery will be delayed. That would mean devices designed to run on SD 835 will have to wait.
Supposedly, mobile devices like the sequel to the HP Elite X3 will be more optimized following the release of Windows 10 Redstone 3 Update. That will happen in the last quarter of 2017, indicating that release date of the device will be between October and December, but still earlier than the rumored Microsoft Surface Phone.