In 2016, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella declared that 2017 will be the year of the next Surface Phone. Since then there had been nothing official nor any kind of talk from the company regarding their plans for the next ultimate mobile device. But last week, Nadella himself said in an interview that Redmond will make more phones, albeit they will not look anything like the ones available today.

According to Forbes, the 2016 and 2017 statements combine to point that Microsoft is likely to launch new hardware when it comes to mobile phones. A radical change in the design of the Surface Phone would also align with the rest of the Surface line as well. That is because the devices that have already been revealed change the way people look at these machines. And this reimagining of a basic design pattern is likely to roll with the anticipated smartphone, too.

Microsoft has been markedly absent in the smartphone arena for two years since they launched their last flagship, Lumia 950. It, and the rest of the Lumia line, partnered with Windows 10 mobile, was supposed to change the flow of the smartphone industry. That did not happen. Instead, it played the third wheel to mobile giants Apple and Google, Gizmodo wrote.

But during this two-year lapse, Windows could have been working on a new Surface Phone. Redmond must have been thinking hard of a product concept that would let them turn heads. Not just something good to look at, but a device that consumers would actually buy.

So the anticipated Surface Phone will need to impress. And for starters, Microsoft has to attract developers to spruce up its insipid app Store. However, that is already an obstacle in and of itself. App makers would want a large user base to potentially market their products to before they start developing anything.

And that is why the company needs to exceed expectations come the time for their next flagship phone's reveal. Redmond is having an even on May 23, which could be the date the world sees the next Surface Phone.