Gloomy Future for Windows Phones? Microsoft Retailers Closing Doors in Brazil

Microsoft is working hard to make its products available to more people worldwide, so this piece of news might come as a big surprise for some.



According to a new report, a number of retailers in Brazil that are selling Microsoft products are shutting down their business for no clear reason. Local site WindowsMania writes (via WindowsCentral) that several Microsoft-branded stores are going dark these days, making the arrival of new Lumia phones and Surface devices in the country very uncertain.
News that Microsoft retailers are shutting their doors in Brazil is a little unexpected especially since this particular country has always been of the most successful for Windows and Windows Phone. Statistics show that Windows Phone adoption is even above iOS, especially because a number of Lumia models were manufactured at a local plant.
The ex-Nokia Brazil plant But it’s this manufacturing facility the one that might be causing the closure of these stores.
When Microsoft purchased Nokia’s Devices and Services unit, the company also took over a plant in Brazil where the company was making Xbox consoles and Lumia phones. Back in October 2015, Redmond decided to sell this facility to device manufacturer Flextronics, not to stop production of its devices, but to hand over the process to this company.
Reports coming from Brazil, however, claim that Lumia devices can hardly be found in local stores and it’s believed that this change affecting the manufacturing facility is the main cause.
Furthermore, Microsoft hasn’t unveiled any plans to bring new Lumia models running Windows 10, including 950/950 XL, 550, and 650, or Surface tablets in Brazil, so these stores might be closing because of the rather limited opportunity to bank on new devices manufactured by the Redmond-based company.
Certainly, losing stores in Brazil is quite a hit for Microsoft given the fact that this has been one of the most successful markets for the company, so we’ve reached out to Redmond for more information on this and will update this article should more information be provided.