After Dropping $4.4 Billion, Microsoft Is Having Another At Trying To Sell Windows 10 smartphones.
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After dropping $4.4 Billion, trying to prop up their struggling smartphone business by buying Nokia, an already dying phone brand, Microsoft is set to have another crack at trying to get traction in the mobile market with two new Windows 10 smartphones.

This is despite the fact that consumers have overwhelmingly rejected a Windows OS based devise in favour of Android and Apple iOS devices.

Currently Microsoft has less than 5% share of the smartphone market. 

The new models that Microsoft is set to launch in Australia include the Lumia 950 and Lumia 950XL these models will ship with Windows 10 natively, they are tipped to be launch at the same time as Microsoft open their new store in Australia. 

At Mobile World Congress in Barcelona Microsoft officials told ChannelNews that new Lumia models running Windows 10 would be ready for the Australian market by around “October”. 

Juniper Research analyst Sam Smith said late last week that the new 950 device will probably run a 64-bit Snapdragon 808 processor, with the 950XL running  the more powerful 64-bit Snapdragon 810 processor. 
“We expect a short-term uptake of Windows Phones, based on the new features that Windows 10 offers,” Smith told the US edition of Computerworld via an email. 

“However, any increase in Windows phones overall will be slow, as it will take time for the app ecosystem to accelerate for developers to incorporate another OS on top of the Android/iOS duopoly.”

Without that ecosystem, he added, “consumer adoption will be reluctant.” In other words, universal apps will “hasten any migration of consumers from iOS and Android,” he said. “But if the main body of Windows Phone are simply iOS/Android ports, there is little software-based incentive to switch. If universal apps for Windows on mobile have unique capabilities, then they will have stronger appeal.”

The new devices will not support the new Continuum feature of Windows 10 which several analysts claim is “plain dumb”. 

Continuum delivers the ability to plug a device into a keyboard and use it as you would a desktop.

Not providing Continuum support in the Lumia 950 “would be a monumental misstep for the new OS, to have a flagship device unable to run one of the OS’s headline features,” Smith added.

Chinese technology website IT Home, uses the codename “Talkman” for the 950 and “Cityman” for the 950 XL.

The 950 according to manufacturing sources in Asia will have a 5.2-in. display, 3GB of memory, 32GB of internal storage with a microSD slot for storage expansion, a 3,000mAh removable battery and support for LTE wireless.

The 950XL will have many of the same features as the 950, but with a larger 5.7-in display and 3,300mAh removable battery.
 
There are also rumours that Microsoft will release a high-end smartphone with a front-facing LED flash.

Overall, smartphone makers shipped 338 million smartphones globally to retailers in the second quarter, an increase of 16%. Apple continued its record-breaking streak with 47.5 million iPhone sales in the quarter. 

Other Chinese smartphone makers generally saw shipments rise, with Huawei seeing 50% growth and Xiaomi increasing 33%. LG, based in South Korea, however, saw a 3% decline Computerworld reported recently.