Shortly after the launch of Samsung Galaxy S8, it was widely reported that Microsoft would be selling the “Galaxy S8 Microsoft Edition.” However, Samsung claims that such a version of the Galaxy S8 never existed.

After the launch of Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ smartphones, Microsoft also started selling these phones with no modifications to their hardware and software. However, the Galaxy S8 duo available at the Microsoft Stores came preloaded with apps such as Office, OneDrive, Cortana and Outlook. The Redmond giant began selling these phones by providing some training on how to use the apps provided by Microsoft.

It seems that “Galaxy S8 Microsoft Edition” was nothing but a PR stunt to compel buyers towards Microsoft Stores to make them aware of the various apps by Microsoft. Here is the official statement from Samsung.

“Samsung Galaxy S8, Galaxy S8+, and Galaxy Note8 devices are available in the Microsoft online and retail stores with a unique Microsoft experience which ensures their customers, particularly small-to-midsize business owners and entrepreneurs, a best-in-class productivity experience. There is not a ‘Microsoft Edition’ brand of any Samsung Galaxy products.”

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The above statement has surfaced at a time when the Redmond giant has just begun the sales of the Galaxy S8, Galaxy S8+ and Galaxy Note 8 on its online store. By the way, the Galaxy S8 is the first Android smartphone to be available on Microsoft Store. The Redmond giant has stopped the sales of Lumia branded sales. The only other smartphones that are available at Microsoft’s online store are Razer Phone, HP Elite x3 Bundle, Alcatel IDOL 4S, and Acer Liquid Jade Primo.

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From April this year, Microsoft started selling Samsung Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus smartphones in its brick-and-mortar stores. Now, the company has also started selling the devices through its online store.

The Microsoft Edition Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus comes pre-loaded with a range of productivity tools from Microsoft, including Cortana, MS Word, Excel, OneNote, and Outlook among others. It also comes with the new Microsoft Launcher which gives the ability to access calendar, documents, and recent activities in personalized feed.

The unlocked version of the Microsoft Edition Galaxy S8 costs $724.99, while its bigger variant — the Galaxy S8 Plus is priced at $824.99. The pricing is similar to the devices’ pricing on the Samsung’s official website. In addition, Microsoft is also offering carrier versions of the device from the likes of Verizon and AT&T.

Microsoft has already revealed that there will be a big discount on both devices as part of the company’s Black Friday deals. During Black Friday sale, both the smartphones will carry a discount of $150.

As a refresher, the Galaxy S8 features a 5.8-inch display while the Galaxy S8 Plus comes with a 6.2-inch display. The Super AMOLED display comes with a scree resolution of 2960 x 1440 pixels, with an aspect ratio of 18:5:9. Under the hood, both the devices are powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 835 chipset which provides eight Kryo CPU cores clocked at up to 2.35GHz along with an Adreno 540 GPU and 4GB of RAM. Both the smartphones have 64GB of internal storage and supports microSD card of up to 256GB for expanding storage.

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There is a 12-megapixel rear-facing camera with optical image stabilisation (IOS), LED flash and a f/1.7 aperture, and an 8-megapixel front-facing camera with f/1.7 aperture and autofocus. While the Galaxy S8 is powered by a 3,000mAh battery, the S8 Plus packs a bigger 3,500mAh battery. Currently, the smartphones run Android Nougat OS but an upgrade to Android 8.0 Oreo is already in the beta stage.

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After several months of leaks, Xiaomi has finally announced the Mi 6 flagship smartphone. Speculations have it that Microsoft may start selling a Microsoft Edition of Xiaomi Mi 6 in the near future.

Just before the launch of Xiaomi Mi 6, the Chinese edition of Microsoft Store added listings of two Xiaomi products. The first one is Windows 10 powered Xiaomi Mi Air Notebook and the second one is Xiaomi Mi 5s Plus which is not a Windows Phone device. The Chinese online store of Microsoft does not have a single Windows Phone smartphone, but it has suddenly began selling the Mi 5s Plus Android smartphone.

The reason why Xiaomi Mi 5s Plus is available on the Microsoft Store is that the smartphone is loaded with apps like Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneDrive, and Skype. The Standard Edition of Xiaomi Mi 5s Plus with 4 GB RAM and 64 GB storage in colors like Gold, Rose Gold and Gray are selling for 2,299 Yuan ($334). The High Edition having 6 GB of RAM and 128 GB of storage with same color choices are available for 2,599 Yuan ($377).

Read More: Xiaomi Mi 6 Dual Camera Samples: Xiaomi Takes on Apple’s iPhone 7 Plus

Microsoft is also providing two-year Microsoft Store warranty. In the U.S., the Redmond giant is now selling Galaxy S8 Microsoft Edition which includes its bundled apps. Hence, there is a possibility that a Microsoft Edition of Xiaomi Mi 6 may soon become a reality.

The Redmond giant has not released a Lumia phone after releasing the Lumia 950, Lumia 950 XL and Lumia 550 in 2015. Rumors are rife that Microsoft may have discontinued the Lumia series of smartphones. Moreover, the new Windows 10 Creators update is available to a limited number of six Lumia phones. The present market share of Windows 10 Mobile is dismally low compared to Android and iOS. Some rumors claim that the Redmond giant Microsoft may shut down the Windows 10 Mobile OS. There are rumors that predict Microsoft will re-enter the smartphone market with a more powerful Surface branded smartphone. As of this writing, there is no official information available on Microsoft Surface Phone.

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