Speculations and rumors pertaining to Microsoft's long-awaited Surface Phone have circling online for some time.

Adding fuel to fire were revelations that Microsoft owned a website dubbed surfacephone.com.

The Surface Phone handset will be an exciting device - judging by its rumored specs - that consumers can look forward. Here's a look at the speculated features, specs and release date of the alleged Microsoft smartphone.

Design And Display

Leaked images of the alleged device hint that the Surface Phone will likely be a phablet that deploys the same screen size as the Nokia Lumia XL.

The company is reportedly working on three different variants of the handset. One would be targeted towards the consumer sector and the other two would mainly be designed for business enterprises. The device will also probably feature the Kickstand concept.

Per rumors, the Surface Phone may sport a 5.5-inch HD display with a resolution of 1440 x 2560 pixels. The business variant of the device may have a 6-inch screen.

The device's display may also use a liquid cooling technology. However, it is not known what this technology does.

Processor, Memory And Storage

There has been some debate as to which processor the phablet will house. It is believed to come with either the Snapdragon 835 processor or Intel's 14nm Kaby Lake CPU.

The consumer variant will reportedly offer 4 GB of RAM with 64 GB of internal storage, whereas the enterprise version will likely boast 6 GB of RAM and 128 GB of storage.

The third variant is rumored to house a whopping 8 GB of RAM and 512 GB of storage, which easily rivals some computers. This variant may deploy the Snapdragon 830 CPU.

Battery

A 3000 mAh may power the Surface Phone, whether the battery capacity will also vary with the models is not clear.

Camera

The smartphone is likely to have a 21MP primary camera and an 8MP secondary camera. The camera for the three smartphones may be different per industry insiders.

OS

The Surface Phone will likely come pre-loaded with Windows 10 Mobile Redstone 3 and not Redstone 2.

Features

The Surface Phone will be equipped with a fingerprint scanner and may also offer support for a stylus, as well as keyboard cover like the Surface Pro.

Release And Pricing

Microsoft has not revealed the date of the Surface Phone's release. However, it is expected to be launched some time in Q1 2017. This could mean that there might be some news by the end of March. However, there is no concrete evidence supporting this theory.

Alternately, some reports hint at the device being readied for trial production and the Surface Phone may release in end 2017 or early 2018.

The price of the Microsoft Surface Phone is rumored to be around the $750 mark for the consumer variant and around $1200 for the 8 GB variant.

Photo: Marcin Wichary | Flickr