window 8 phones

"Our hardware partners are doing some really cool things for the Windows Phone 8 launch."

That's the word from Greg Sullivan, Senior Product manager for Windows Phone at Microsoft, having seen what's in store for Windows Phone fans later in the year.

"We are really excited by the hardware we are seeing from our current partners. We are big believers in them," added Sullivan to Pocket-lint in a behind-closed-doors interview.

That confidence in what third-party smartphone manufacturers like Samsung, HTC, and Nokia are doing probably means that Microsoft is unlikely to look to build its own dedicated Windows Phone smartphone in the same way it has with the Surface tablet for Windows RT announced in June.

- What's new in Windows Phone 8?

- Hands-on: Surface for Windows RT review