Samsung to launch Windows Phone 8 'Apollo' based phones in October

Samsung has confirmed it will be launching its first Windows Phone 8-based smartphone in October this year. Samsung was recently rumoured to be launching three new Windows phones later this year. It was also rumoured that two of them will run Windows Phone 8, codenamed Apollo, platform. Meanwhile, Samsung says it will not release any new Mango device until Microsoft officially releases the next generation platform.

While confirming the news, Samsung Taiwan said that Mango was not as suited to the high-end devices as Windows Phone 8 would be. However, it declined to divulge more details about the forthcoming Windows Phone 8 handsets.

Samsung currently sells Omnia W GT-i8350 smartphone, running Windows Phone 7.5 Mango OS, in India for Rs. 15,200. Samsung is now planning to launch Windows Phone 8 devices at competitive prices in a bid to compete with Google's Android OS.

Samsung plans to launch Windows Phone 8 devices come at a time when Nokia is making all out efforts to push Windows Phone-based Lumia smartphones. Nokia has already launched quite a few Windows Phone devices such as Lumia 800, 710 and the recent Lumia 900.

Apple's iOS and Google's Android are the two leading players in the mobile operating systems right now. With the arrival of Windows OS, the dynamics are likely to change, but how soon – we'll have to wait. Windows Phone 8 will help bolster Microsoft's presence in the smartphone segment