Microsoft confirmed in September that an early version of Windows Phone would ship in the first months of 2015, and it appears that the company is now giving the final touches to the very first build of the next smartphone platform.

Reports coming from China reveal that Microsoft has already completed development of a Windows Phone 10 build and is now testing it online. Obviously, details are missing right now, but it's the very first confirmation that Windows Phone 10 is out there in the wild, so it's pretty clear that we're not very far from a public release of this early build.

The version appearing in logs is Windows Phone 8.15, while the latest release available to Preview for Developers users is 8.10.14203, so there's no doubt that this is an updated smartphone platform which could see daylight sometime in the near future.

Release likely to take place in January

Microsoft will be holding a Windows 10 event in late January, and people close to the matter have said that the company is very likely to unveil the first Consumer Preview build of the upcoming desktop operating system, but we're also hearing that more new products are on the table right now.

For example, in addition to the first Windows 10 build aimed at consumers, Microsoft could also present Windows Phone 10 Preview, an early build of the next smartphone platform specifically targeting developers and obviously created with feedback in mind.

No details about the features that could be included in Windows Phone 10 Preview have been provided until now, but some people close to the development plans have indicated that Microsoft could actually merge the tablet and smartphone platforms in a single operating system powering both type of devices.

The merger could take place as soon as early next year, so the preview aimed at Windows Phone users could also be used on Windows RT tablets, such as Microsoft's very own Surface RT.

As far as the final product is concerned, only little is known at this point, but some sources have indicated that Microsoft is planning to bring both the desktop version of Windows 10 and the smartphone flavor on the market at the same time, in mid-2015.

This plan hasn't yet been confirmed by Microsoft, but Windows 10 is very likely to be released in mid-2015, after eventually reaching RTM in spring. The Consumer Preview build will be launched in January or early February, so Microsoft would have enough time to collect feedback and fix the found bugs.