Microsoft cuts off 40 percent of Windows phones with Creators Update shift

From PC World: Our review of the Creators Update for Windows 10 Mobile may have shown it to be a half-hearted update at best, but a substantial portion of Microsoft's base of installed phones won't even have a chance to experience it.

A report by AdDuplex, an ad network running on top of Windows devices, found that four of the top ten Windows phones won't be allowed to upgrade to Microsoft's latest feature update. That works out to about 40 percent of all Windows phones already in the hands of users.

Just thirteen phones are eligible for the Windows 10 Mobile Creators Update: some recent Lumias (the 550, 640/640XL, 650, and 950/950XL), two Alcatel phones (the IDOL 4S and OneTouch Fierce XL), the HP Elite x3, and a few others.

Unfortunately for Microsoft users, that means many popular older phones can't be upgraded. The Lumia 535, the third-most popular Windows phone, is ineligible, as well as the eighth, ninth, and tenth most popular phones: the Lumia 930, the Lumia 730, and the Lumia 540. The recent Acer Liquid Jade Primo, as well as popular older phones like the Lumia 1520 are similarly excluded. By AdDuplex's standards, 39.2 percent of all Windows phones won't be eligible to receive the Creators Update.

There is an escape hatch, however: Even officially unsupported phones can download the Creators Update via the Windows Insider program, which puts beta builds on the phone. If users sign up for the Release Preview, they'll essentially upgrade themselves to an "official" release. But those phones won't be officially supported, either.

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