Contrary to recently surfaced reports, the Microsoft Surface Phone 2017 will not be officially announced this year. Instead, the Redmond-based tech giant is likely to take the wraps off its highly anticipated phone in 2018. The internet is rife with speculations indicating that the device would be up for grabs in three variants and may boast a foldable display.

The Microsoft Surface Phone 2017 has been subject to a slew of rumors, some going as far as claiming that the flagship smartphone's release date has been pushed back to 2018, WindowsCentral reported. Regardless of when the new Surface Phone arrives, some tech pundits have already deemed it as a powerful gadget. There's also hearsay that the Surface Phone 2017 may go toe-to-toe with leading smartphones currently available in the market including Apple's iPhone Plus line.

Microsoft Surface Phone 2017 Specifications & Features
The long-awaited Microsoft Surface Phone 2017 is said to boast a Quick Charge 4.0 that provides a 5 hour of battery life from just 5 minutes of charging. As far as the device's different variants are concerned, it will come in a high end, hybrid or deluxe and mid-range models, according to Express.

Aside from that, the next iteration of the Surface Phone is expected to come with features identical to the Lumia XL. Moreover, a powerful Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor will be firing up the Microsoft Surface Phone 2017 if rumors running rampant online proved to be true.

The new Surface Phone will pack 6GB of RAM and could be running on Windows 10 Mobile Redstone 3 OS. Furthermore, the smartphone will sport a 5.5-inch display touchscreen with a QHD resolution of 2560 x 1440 pixels.

Microsoft Surface Phone 2017 Release Date
Much to the dismay of those waiting with bated breath for the 2017 iteration of the Surface Phone, the device is highly unlikely to be announced during this year's MWC (Mobile World Congress). Nevertheless, Microsoft's chief executive Satya Nadella has confirmed that the company is hard at works on a brand new flagship device as reported by SmartStockNews.

The only saving grace, for now, is that the Surface Phone 2017 is said to come with an updated version of Continuum, which lets the device serve as a computer.