Lumia 950, Lumia 950 XL, and Everything Else Expected at Microsoft's Windows 10 Devices Event

We are just few hours away from Microsoft's 'Windows 10 devices' event at the Skylight at Moynihan Station in New York City on Tuesday. The company is expected to make several announcements including the launch of its new Lumia flagships, a new Surface Pro tablet, and the new Microsoft Band.

A flurry of leaked details around long-rumoured Windows 10 Mobile flagships, the Lumia 950 (codenamed Cityman) and Lumia 950 XL (Talkman). have already given us a glimpse of what to expect from the Tuesday event. The company is also likely to reveal an affordable Windows 10 Mobile smartphone - the Lumia 550. The event kicks off at 10am EDT (or 7:30pm IST) on Tuesday.

Microsoft's rumoured Lumia 950 and Lumia 950 XL can be expected to be available starting October 10, according to a report. The Redmond giant is said to have chosen a separate October event for its flagship Lumia smartphones to avoid a major event such as IFA where its devices may have been outshone by other product launches.

The company is widely expected to bring biometric authentication in the form of an infrared iris scanner in its flagship smartphones. The feature would let users log in with facial recognition via the iris scanner, and it is said to be a part of Windows Hello feature in Windows 10. Another notable feature that Microsoft may finally bring to Windows 10 Mobile is Surface Pen technology, tipped to be included in the Lumia 950 XL.

The first leaked live image showed the alleged Lumia 950 XL in a Blue colour variant being charged and showing the home screen of the smartphone. Some of the apps visible on the home screen were Xbox, Office suite, Flipboard, Twitter, and Skype among others.

Both the Lumia 950 and Lumia 950 XL are tipped to include on-screen navigation buttons, as per recent leaked images. A bunch of images claimed to be of the Lumia 950 and Lumia 950 XL show that the smartphones may feature triple-LED flash modules at the rear and could feature optional dual-SIM variants.
Considering that Microsoft India has in the recent past launched the dual-SIM variants of various Lumias in India, we can expect to only see the dual-SIM models of the upcoming Lumia 950 and Lumia 950 XL in India. We will however have to wait for Microsoft's Tuesday event for confirmation.

One of the leaked images showed the Lumia 950 featuring a circular rear camera module that also included the flash module integrated. In another leaked image, the Lumia 950 XL was purportedly seen featuring its triple-LED flash module on the left of the rear camera module. The live images also suggested that both the Lumia 950 and Lumia 950 XL would feature a rubber-like back panel. Notably, the leaked live images also tipped that the Lumia 950 may sport front-facing flash. Both the handsets can be seen sporting PureView Zeiss sensor in the live images.

Based on preliminary specifications leak, the Lumia 950 may feature a 5.2-inch QHD display and is likely to come with Snapdragon 808 processor coupled with 3GB of RAM, and a 3000mAh battery. The Lumia 950 XL, on the other hand, is said to equip a 5.7-inch QHD display, and is powered by a Snapdragon 810 chipset coupled with 3GB of RAM. Both the handsets are said to include a 21-megapixel rear camera and a 5-megapixel selfie sensor.

A recent report claimed Microsoft will release the new handsets running Threshold 1 version of Windows 10 Mobile. The Threshold 2 version was rumoured to be released only in November for desktops, tablets, and smartphones. A report hinted that the Threshold 1 build of Windows 10 Mobile may come with build number 10240, much like the Windows 10 desktop RTM build number. To recall, Microsoft started rolling out Windows 10 Build 10240, which was said to be the RTM (release to manufacturing) build, to Windows 10 Insiders and hardware partners just few weeks before the final release date.

Last week, the Microsoft Store accidentally listed the Microsoft Lumia 950 and Lumia 950 XL unlocked versions in "Windows 10 Ready Phones" page. The listing was soon after pulled down though not before tipping various details including some innards details. According to the listing, the Lumia 950 would feature a 5.2-inch QHD display while the Lumia 950 XL features 5.7-inch QHD display, both in-line with previous details. Both the smartphones were seen packing a 20-megapixel rear camera with Carl Zeiss optics. Other features listed for Lumia 950 and Lumia 950 XL smartphone included 32GB inbuilt storage with external microSD card support up to 2TB. Notably, the Microsoft Store claimed that both the Lumia 950 and Lumia 950 XL will run Windows 10 instead of the Windows 10 Mobile.

A Russian third-party online retailer recently started taking pre-orders for the yet-to-be-announced Lumia 950 and Lumia 950 XL. According to online retailer's listing (which was pulled down soon), the Lumia 950 XL would come at RUB 62,990 (approximately Rs. 62,450) and Lumia 950 was said to be priced at RUB 56,990 (approximately Rs. 56,500). Both the handsets were listed to start shipping in October.

A purported press render of the Lumia 550 was also leaked recently by the reliable tipster @evleaks, aka 
Evan Blass. This was not the first time that the alleged Lumia 550 was leaked in images. It looked similar to the Lumia 540, however, with a Windows logo on the back panel replacing the Microsoft logo seen on the Lumia 540.

The alleged Lumia 550, as per the leaked details, would feature 5-inch HD display with Corning Gorilla Glass 3 coating; a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon SoC clocked at 1GHz; 1GB RAM; and 8GB of inbuilt storage, which can further expand via a microSD card (up to 128GB); a 5-megapixel autofocus rear camera with LED flash; a 2-megapixel front-facing camera, and a 1905mAh battery.
One of the leaked images on the Internet claimed to be of the Microsoft Lumia 950 XL showed the smartphone's battery and camera module in a unit without a back shell. According to leaked image, the Lumia 950 XL would sport a removable 3340mAh battery. The SIM card/ microSD card slot was placed just above the battery. It also appeared as if the battery would have to be removed in order to insert a SIM card or a microSD card.

Some of the other attendees of the Microsoft's Tuesday event are likely to be Surface Pro 4 tablet, the successor to the Surface Pro 3.

The next generation Surface tablet is likely to feature integrated fingerprint sensor on the Surface keyboard. The Surface Pro 4 is said to sport a "razor-thin" bezel and be smaller, thinner and lighter. A recent report even claimed that the tablet may come with 2 display size variant - the device is said to change its size between 13-inch (when a keyboard is attached to it), and 12-inch when it is being used as a tablet. Another size rumoured is 14-inch screen.

The Microsoft Band is also said to receive a refresh at Tuesday's event. The purported leaked images of the next-generation Band has shown a new curved display and metallic body sides.

The Tuesday event can be expected to be Microsoft's last attempt to be back to mobile space after the Windows-powered smartphones having failed to gain any traction from consumers as well as developers for building apps. The company has also lately been shifting its focus from hardware to software. We can say that the two upcoming high-end flagship Lumias hold the fate of the company's future in mobile space.
Some previous reports had mentioned that the company was testing other Lumia handsets including the Lumia 850 (codenamed Saana) and Lumia 650 (codenamed Saimaa) as well; though not many details about both the handsets have surfaced on the Internet, making their launch at the event unlikely.