The company’s retrenchment in smartphones comes as Mr. Nadella, who became chief executive last year, has pulled Microsoft back from initiatives begun by Mr. Ballmer.

Mr. Nadella sent a companywide email in late June intended to rally employees for the coming year. He also warned in the message that Microsoft would need to “make some tough choices in areas where things are not working and solve hard problems in ways that drive customer value.”

Also in June, Microsoft said it was selling its online display advertising business to AOL, as Microsoft exited a business for which it once had high hopes. In 2012, the company signaled how its ambitions in the area had sputtered when it took a $6.2 billion accounting charge related to its acquisition of aQuantive, an online advertising company.

Microsoft has continued to lose market share in smartphones since acquiring Nokia’s handset business. The company has failed to turn the Windows Phone operating system, which runs on its handsets, into a vibrant alternative to the two leading mobile platforms, iOS from Apple and Android from Google.

Last month, the company said that Stephen Elop, the former chief executive of Nokia who became a senior Microsoft executive after the acquisition, overseeing its devices business, would leave Microsoft.

Rather than catering to all smartphone shoppers, Microsoft said it would narrow its focus to three types of customers: business users who want strong management, security and productivity apps; buyers looking for inexpensive phones; and Windows fans.

Microsoft said it would take the $7.6 billion charge during its fourth fiscal quarter, which ended June 30, and that it would be a noncash charge reflecting the declining performance of the smartphone business, which continued to lose money and market share. Microsoft said it would also take a cash restructuring charge of $750 million to $850 million related to the layoffs.