Microsoft and Amazon using Apple manufacturer to build smartphones

Apple’s chief manufacturer has reportedly been tasked with building smartphone devices for both Microsoft and Amazon, which the companies will launch at some point in 2013. 

DigiTimes is reporting that Foxconn will build a Microsoft’s Surface smartphone and a Kindle-branded smartphone for Amazon. Not much else is known about the two devices, but DigiTimes claims both will be on the market by mid-2013. 

‘The sources pointed out that Microsoft and Amazon's own-brand handsets will only have a limited shipment volume initially and may become a new business model for the manufacturers in the future,’ claimed DigiTimes’ report. 

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer recently confirmed that his company was very interested in producing more hardware – could this be what he was talking about? We hope so, it’d be nice to see some of Microsoft’s design flare showcased on the Surface RT applied to a handset.

Amazon’s interest in the space isn’t surprising, either. The company will be keen to launch a direct rebuttal to Google’s recently released Nexus 4 handset. Expect this bad boy to be as cheap as chips and packed to the hilt with high-end specs. 

More news as and when we get it.