NEW YORK – Microsoft has just announced the new Lumia 950 smartphone and 950 XL phablet powered by Windows 10 for mobile. Microsoft’s October 6th event has been dominating the rumor mills for the last two months since it was promised to reveal a slew of fresh hardware, as well as the latest version of the company’s mobile software, Windows 10 Mobile.

The stars of the event were the highly anticipated Lumia 950 smartphone and 950 XL phablet. Both devices run on Windows 10 mobile and feature a brilliant spec sheet and design. The two handsets constitute a new potential to revive the phone business for the Redmond-based corporation.

Lumia 950: Specs, Price, and Features

The Lumia 950 is aimed to compete with flagships coming from the Android side, including HTC’s One M9, LG’s G4 and Samsung’s Galaxy S6, as well as with Apple’s September released iPhone 6S.

The handset features a modest for today’s standards 5.2-inch AMOLED display – it is said to be the best screen size for the hands- featuring a 1440 x 2560 pixel (~564 ppi pixel density) resolution, while covered by corning Gorilla Glass 3 for scratch protection.

Underneath the hood, the phone is fitted with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 808 processor housing six cores, two clocked at 1.82GHz and the other four at 1.44GHz. The chipset is accompanied by an Adreno 408 GPU.

Moreover, 3GB of RAM has been included as well, which will definitely enhance the multitasking experience. Storage wise, the device comes with 32GB of internal memory, though expandable via microSD up to a whopping 256 gigs.

The Lumia lineup is known for its camera capabilities, and the Lumia 950 smartphone is no exception. On the back, a 4992 х 3744 pixels 20-megapixel shooter has been placed featuring Carl Zeiss optics, optical image stabilization, autofocus, triple-LED RGB flash, HDR and Pure View technology. According to Microsoft, this new type of flash allows users to snap well-lit pictures under a low-light environment.

In addition to the primary camera, the front one packs 5-megapixels -which is adequate enough for selfies- with full HD 1080p video recording.

Extra features include a 3,000 mAh battery which is capable of running the juice for a long time, wireless charging, 4G LTE and a new Type-C reversible port. The Lumia 950 weighs 150 grams and its dimensions are 145 x 73.2 x 8.2

Lumia 950XL: Specs, Price, and Features

The Redmond giant has also unveiled the 950’s bigger sibling, the 950 XL phablet, which is said to come at Apple’s and Samsung’s counterparts, the iPhone 6S Plus and Galaxy Note 5 respectively.

Design wise, the 950Xl is identical to the 950, featuring a unibody polycarbonate shell.

The phablet rocks a humongous 5.7-inch display with a resolution of 1440 x 2560 pixels (~518 ppi pixel density), covered by the new corning Gorilla Glass 4, and not the 3rd generation that is being featured on the 950.

The 950XL is substantially more powerful than its smaller brother as it is equipped with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 810 processor housing eight cores, four clocked at 1.5GHz and the rest at 2GHz. The GPU is an Adreno 430.

Memory, storage and camera features are the same with the 950. The battery is a bit bigger, duly to the larger screen size, packing 3340 mAh.

A gimmick unique to the 950 XL, is ‘tablet class’, as Microsoft puts it, liquid cooling, that essentially allows the smartphone to handle the significantly powerful Snapdragon 810 processor easier.

Another exclusive tweak included in the 950XL is Continuum support thus connecting up a mouse, keyboard, and monitor, that way transform the Lumia 950XL into a PC by using a dock.

Pricing and availability

Microsoft was kind enough to shed light on the pricing and availability matter today as well, stating that the 950 will start from US$550 and the 950XL from US$650 -unlocked versions.

The devices will be available for purchase next month, though there was not any mention regarding which countries in specific. We believe that US will ostensibly be the first region, with Europe and Asia to follow some weeks after.

Microsoft has also developed a dual-SIM version for both handsets. The Lumia 950 and 950 XL will come with Windows 10 mobile straight out of the box as well.