Home windows Cellphone is one way or the other making a comeback in 2026

Nex Computing, the corporate behind the NexDock sequence of laptop-shaped telephone docking stations, has simply unveiled a brand-new {hardware} product it calls the NexPhone. As its identify implies, the NexPhone is a smartphone-shaped cellular gadget, but it surely comes with a significant twist: it is powered by a nifty NexOS multi-boot resolution that runs Windows 11, Android 16, and Linux Debian all on the similar time, and all natively.

Pitched as being a “smartphone that works as a PC,” the NexPhone supplies a Samsung DeX or Home windows Continuum-esque docked mode expertise when plugged into an exterior monitor, full with a correct desktop PC computing setting in addition. When paired with a keyboard and a mouse, the NexPhone supplies full entry to Linux Debian, alongside the flexibility to run Android apps on this mode.

Moreover, the NexPhone is compliant with Home windows 11 PC {hardware} necessities — it presents an non-compulsory multi-boot configuration for Home windows 11 on ARM, which is facilitated by its PC-compatible Qualcomm QCM6490 processor.

“QCM6490 is a special class of processor, constructed for a brand new degree of effectivity. NexPhone is designed to run three working methods natively on the identical {hardware}, with out compromising the core expertise,” says Nex.

Except for the processor, which presents platform help from Qualcomm up by 2036, different key NexPhone specs embody a 6.58-inch 1080 x 2403 decision 120Hz LCD show, a 5,000 mAh battery, 18W quick charging, wi-fi charging, a microSD card slot, a fingerprint sensor, twin 5G SIM networking, a 10-megapixel selfie digital camera, a 64-megapixel wide-angle rear sensor, and a 13-megapixel ultra-wide rear shooter.

In accordance with the corporate, the NexPhone will launch in Q3 of this yr at an asking worth of $550. The product is up now for reservation straight from the corporate’s official storefront for a refundable deposit of $200. There seems to be a single, darkish grey colorway at the moment on supply, with a single 12GB of RAM and 256GB of inside storage {hardware} configuration obtainable.

The return of Home windows Cellphone

With a touch of Android and Linux for good measure

Credit score: Pocket-lint / Nex

Past its dockable nature, the NexPhone has one other distinctive trick up its sleeve, and it is one I am notably intrigued by. When set as much as run Home windows 11, the machine presents up a devoted, touch-friendly person interface known as the Home windows Cellular UI to be used whereas on the go. Sure, you learn that accurately: Nex has basically resurrected Home windows Cellphone, offering us with a peak of what Home windows 11 Cellular may’ve been had Microsoft not canned Home windows for cellular again in 2017.

When working Home windows 11 on the NexPhone’s display screen with its Home windows Cellular UI, it very a lot resembles the Home windows Cellphone interface of yore. It seems loads like Square Home or Launcher 7 for Android, however with full-blown Home windows under-the-hood as an alternative. Tiles dominate the principle residence display screen, an alphabetized all apps listing is a swipe away always, there’s an optimized multitasking display screen, and there is each standing and navigation bars on the high and the underside of the display screen, respectively.

After all, Home windows 11 does not natively help mobile-friendly functions, and so Nex recommends putting in your favourite web sites and providers as progressive web apps (PWAs) straight from a browser. After all, with an unlocked bootloader and native Android 16 additionally on the helm, cellular apps ought to nonetheless be available when switching off of the Home windows Cellular UI expertise.

All of this has me pondering: if an organization like Nex can craft a purpose-built cellular person interface for Home windows 11, why does not Microsoft itself get in on the motion? ARM chips are rather more highly effective than they’ve ever been, the PRISM translation layer makes compatibility much less of a difficulty than up to now, and the Xbox Full Screen Experience (XFSE) proves that Home windows can function in non-traditional computing environments. If Microsoft had been to create a devoted telephone shell for Home windows 11 that nixes superfluous startup providers, it may as soon as once more try and court docket cellular app builders and maybe even reinvigorate curiosity in Home windows on cellular.

Telephones are getting enjoyable once more

Pocket computer systems do not need to be drab slabs

Credit score: Pocket-lint / Clicks / Boox

For the longest time, smartphones have been marching in the direction of whole conformity. Most handsets look roughly the identical on the surface, and each iOS and Android have been converging when it comes to their function units, navigational paradigms, and fluidity. Even foldable telephones, which had been as soon as new and thrilling, have settled right into a predictable rhythm with out a lot in the best way of pleasure.

This has all begun to alter over the previous yr or so: whereas it is true that Microsoft’s innovative dual-screen Duo line has kicked the can, different distinctive gadgets within the sector are thriving, just like the Boox Palma 2 with its E Ink show, the Clicks Communicator with its BlackBerry-style bodily keyboard, the Mild Cellphone III with its emphasis on digital minimalism, and even Nothing with its Matrix-clad Phone 3.

The NexPhone is not fairly as bodily daring as, say, the Clicks Communicator from a type issue standpoint, but it surely’s nonetheless refreshingly distinct in a world dominated by glass-and-metal-sandwich telephone flagships. The polycarbonate construct of the NexPhone is rated not just for IP68 and IP69K water and dust resistance, but in addition for MIL-STD-810H MIL-SPEC drop resistance. The machine seems each minimalistic and utilitarian, even when its sizable bezels and teardrop notch convey mid-range standing.

For $550, the NexPhone is a novel proposition that may properly punch above its weight class. If the corporate is ready to efficiently meld collectively the disparate worlds of Home windows, Android, and Linux right into a single, cohesive entity, then I can see different cellular gadget firms taking discover and responding accordingly. Even when the idea fails to take off, I am simply glad to see newfound momentum in providing enjoyable cellular gadget experiences as soon as extra.