Microsoft has long been rumoured to be working on a Surface Phone, despite the Windows 10 makers never confirming such a device is in the works.
And in many ways, Microsoft has been moving away from the smartphone arena.
Late last year the tech giant revealed they had stopped development of new features or hardware for Windows 10 Mobile.
However, as MWC 2018 fast approaches, the Surface Phone rumours have not gone away – with a recently emerged patent getting fans excited.
Last week, as the new year kicked off, a new series of patent applications relating to a possible Surface Phone was published.
The patents are the latest in a long line of designs for the foldable smartphone and tablet hybrid.
The applications focussed on the camera – namely, how Microsoft would fit a thick camera into the body of a thin device.
Previous patents showed the mooted smartphone, which folds in half, would have two sections that are less than six millimetres thick.
The most recent patents were filed with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).
The news comes after a Microsoft engineer could have confirmed the existence of the Surface Phone by accident.
The Microsoft Asia Research Institute was discussing Cortana support for Android on Zhihu, which is like the Chinese version of Quora.
The engineer said this was due to a lack of permissions on the Android operating system.
However, they said that they were looking forward to the perfect performance of Cortana on the Surface Phone, according to MSPowerUser.
The answer was later edited to “but we do not know there will be a Surface Phone”.
A previous patent filed with the World Intellectual Property Organisation said the Surface Phone was codenamed ‘Andromeda’.
It was opened using a complex hinge, and each half of the device had two OLED displays that combined to make one massive screen.
The design for the rumoured Surface Phone could date back to 2008, when Microsoft started work on the Courier.
This device would have had dual-touchscreen that faced each like two pages of a book.
The seven-inch screens were intended to face each other when the device was closed, and it would have been hinged like a book.
The Microsoft Courier was later cancelled in 2010, but Microsoft did confirm that they had been working on the gadget.
Should the Redmond company ever decide to add a smartphone to its Surface range, we can be sure that it “will not resemble what we know and think of as a phone today,” Microsoft General Manager for Surface Ryan Gavin previously said.
CEO Satya Nadella made a similar comment back in November 2016.
Speaking to the Australian Financial Review, he said: “We will continue to be in the phone market not as defined by today’s market leaders, but by what it is that we can uniquely do in what is the most ultimate mobile device.
“We don’t want to be driven by just envy of what others have, the question is, what can we bring?
“That’s where I look at any device form factor or any technology, even AI.”