Like many of its competitors, Microsoft released its earnings report for Q2 2016. On the devices front it yielded mixed results, with the company's new Surface lineup of products helping to bolster a 29% increase of revenue, reaching the $1.35 billion mark. The Lumia range however, fared far worse, falling a substantial 49%.

The earnings seem to be in line with the overall reaction to the Windows 10 device event that Microsoft held last year in October. Most in attendance were fully aware of the Lumia 950 and 950 XL smartphones the company had planned, but it was the new Surface Book that stole the show. To that end, the overall reaction to Microsoft's Lumia flagships were quite tepid, whereas the Surface Book gave Windows fans a notebook capable of going head to head with the MacBook.

Unfortunately, there is no indication that South African consumers will get the Surface Book at local retailers. The same goes for the Surface Pro 4, which boosted overall device sales in its native United States, but shows no signs of landing on our shores anytime soon.

Overall, Microsoft's past twelve months have been sub-par sales wise, with a year-on-year drop of 10% in sales during that period, reaching $23.8 billion. To that end, we could see Microsoft focus more on its mobile software than hardware, according to Engadget. Skype for example, was downloaded 900 million more times on Windows Phone than iOS and Android.