Samsung’s last Windows Phone smartphone was the Samsung ATIV SE that was launched early last year and was based on Windows Phone 8. The company is reportedly considering launching cheaper smartphones running the Windows Phone platform to reduce its dependence on Android in the smartphone market. Samsung had been looking out for an alternative to Android since the past few years and wished that its Tizen OS could be that alternative. Unfortunately for Samsung, Tizen didn’t quite manage to take off and most of its partners have abandoned the OS. As one of the largest consumer electronics brands in the world, Samsung does understand very well that putting all eggs in one basket isn’t a wise thing to do.
Microsoft had sued Samsung in October last year after Samsung delayed payments of $1 billion royalty fee to the Redmond based company, drawing an interest fee of $6.9 million that Samsung didn’t pay. Samsung claimed to have delayed the payment due to Microsoft’s acquisition of Nokia’s smartphone business, which it believed was in violation of business collaboration with Microsoft established in 2011.
Samsung is already testing out a few prototype devices running on the Windows Phone 8.1 platform according to the report. Samsung launching new Windows Phone devices will certainly be good news for Microsoft as well since Samsung remains one of the strongest smartphone brands out there and can help Microsoft win greater market share in the smartphone market. Currently Windows Phone has been stuck at the 2% market share mark among mobile operating systems since the past few quarters.