Microsoft will reportedly offer a midrange Windows Phone 8 reference design this year, in an effort to expand the ecosystem and market share of its new platform in China.

Digitimes.com reported today that Microsoft's reference design will be powered by Qualcomm's chipsets, although Taiwanese MediaTek is also likely to team with Microsoft for the speculated project. Qualcomm is already offering chipsets for all WP8- and WP7.5-based models.

Microsoft is expected to release the WP8 reference design in mid-2013, with smartphone models to hit the market in the second half of the year, the report added.

Smartphone vendors in China including Lenovo, Huawei and ZTE have allready announced plans to launch WP8 phones in 2013.