Windows-10-Range-Lumia-950-950XL-jpg
A new Windows 10 handset with Qualcomm's Snapdragon 820 on board has apparently made a silent visit to the GFXBench site. Pictured above: A bunch of Windows 10-powered Lumia handsets. Microsoft

An official documentation points to the exact end date of the lifecycle support specific to the Windows 10 Mobile OS.

Powered by Windows 10 Mobile, Microsoft’s Lumia 950 series is now available for purchase in the U.S. Older Windows Phone-powered devices will apparently start receiving this major firmware update in mid-December. However, until now, there has been no information available on the end date of the OS support.

According to The Windows 10 Mobile lifecycle documentation, Microsoft released the new OS for consumers and business alike on Nov. 16. Speaking of end date, Microsoft will reportedly end the mainstream support for Windows 10 Mobile on Jan. 9, 2018. This also means any major or minor firmware update will be available only until the aforementioned date.

Windows 10 end date
Microsoft’s lifecycle support documentation says Windows 10’s mainstream support ends in January 2018. Microsoft

The same report also said the tech giant will opt for incremental firmware update routine for a “minimum of 24 months.” But then, the actual roll out schedule has not been made public yet.

Unlike Google’s monthly security patch roll out schedule for the Android OS powered devices, Microsoft doesn’t seem to have a plan, at this point. Notably, Google took this decision after assessing the far-flung “Stagefright vulnerability,” which apparently affected a total of 900 million Android devices across the globe.

GSM Arena, meanwhile, reminds us that the first batch of Windows 10 Mobile update will be rolled out to compatible Lumia devices starting Dec. 14. Here are the handsets eligible to receive the latest firmware update: Lumia 630, 635, 640, 735 and 830.

The second batch of devices include Lumia 520, 532, 625, 720, 820, 920, 925, 930, 1020 and 1320. However, these handsets will receive the update only from Feb. 1, 2016.