Microsoft Lumia 950 likely to be launched on 6 October in NYC; what we know so far

Microsoft is hosting an event at New York City on 6 October. In all probability, the American technology giant will reportedly unveil the new Lumia 950 series.

To provide better perspective on the upcoming Lumia 950 series, we have sifted through multiple sources and have listed the key features that are most likely to make the cut in the Microsoft's new handsets.

Display:

It has been learnt that Microsoft will launch two new smartphones: one with 5.2-inch screen dubbed Lumia 950 and another a phablet titled Lumia 950 XL with 5.7-inch display. The company has incorporated WQHD (1560x1440p) resolution display, which is now a standard among top-end smartphone series in the market.

Processor, Storage and RAM:

Besides the screen size, processor is the differentiating factor between two Lumia phones. The smaller Microsoft Lumia phone is said to house Qualcomm's Snapdragon 808 series Hexa-core CPU, whereas the phablet model will be powered by faster and more efficient Snapdragon 810 Octa-core chipset. The arrangement seems to be similar to what we see in the current LG-made Nexus 5X and Huawei Nexus 6P.

Read more: Google Nexus 5X vs. Nexus 6P: Which one do you prefer?

However, Microsoft has decided to incorporate same 3GB RAM for both Lumia 950, thus guaranteeing optimised power distribution, which in turn helps in extending battery life.

Again both the devices are expected to come in 32GB inbuilt storage with option for expansion via microSD card.

Mobile Operating System:

Both Lumia 950 series smartphones run on the Microsoft's proprietary Windows 10 Mobile OS out-of-the-box.

It boasts of advanced digital voice-assistant Cortana, company's all new web-browser Project Spartan, more Quick Actions in Action Center, interactive notifications, full-size background image on lockscreen, refurbished mail, calendar, App Switcher, phone (contacts), messaging, Maps, People App, updated keyboard with period, comma and emoji keys.

Read more: Key features of Microsoft Windows 10 for mobile 

Camera:

Both Lumia 950 and 950 XL series boasts pretty much same camera hardware, but differ only in one area. Smaller model houses 20MP PureView camera with dual-LED flash.

On the other hand, Lumia 950 XL too comes packed with 20MP PureView camera, backed by more advanced triple-LED flash.

Both the phones' main camera are said to come with f/1.9 aperture and also feature 5MP snapper on the front.

Battery:

Microsoft Lumia's smaller variant Lumia 950 aka Talkman is said to house 3000 mAh battery, whereas its bigger sibling Lumia 950 XL is expected to feature 3300 mAh cell.

Value-added features:

Microsoft, in its bid to make the new Lumia 950 series stand out among rivals, has reportedly incorporated infra-red-based Iris scanner in both the upcoming devices for Windows Hello feature.

Even the rival Samsung was also rumoured to include this feature in Galaxy S5 way back in 2014, but was dropped due to technical limitation.

Now, Microsoft seems to have cracked the technology to incorporate it in the small confines of a smartphone. Iris scanner is said to be more secured than the fingerprint-based biometric technology as the former is foolproof as compared to the latter.

If this rumour does turn out to be true on 6 October, Microsoft will raise the security standard in the smartphone industry and be able to stand out among the rivals Apple and Samsung, which are currently ruling the market.

Expected features of Microsoft Lumia 950 and Lumia 950 XL: