We told you more rumors and more leaks would be coming out ahead of the Windows Phone Summit on June 20th. So far we've heard a 'confirmation' for software updates to Apollo and a Qualcomm exec talk about their processors being supported in the next release.

Now Digitimes wants to chime in on the fun with a rumor of its own. According to "industry sources", Microsoft is planning to release Windows Phone 8 to its hardware partners the day of the summit (June 20th). Don't get ahead of yourselves though -- this is most likely not the RTM release since we're still (at a minimum) three months away from any hardware launching. This is probably just the first official release of beta software so that manufacturers and high-priority developers can roll up their sleeves and begin working on the software.

Their report goes on to allege that Windows Phone 8 will see many manufacturers that aren't typically smartphone-oriented throw their hats into the arena. The hardware partners that are "likely to [be] the first batch of vendors" for the platform includes Nokia, Samsung, Hewlett-Packard (HP), Dell, Acer, ASUS and Lenovo. However, their sources say other partners remain on the fence until after Windows 8 launches, since Microsoft will be pouring most of its resources (read: marketing dollars) to promote the tablet/computer software first

As Microsoft has done in the past, we'll most likely be given an early list of which manufacturers will be ready to release devices at the Summit in two weeks.

Source: Digitimes