Microsoft Lumia 950 and Lumia 950 XL smartphones officially announced

During Microsoft's Windows 10 hardware press event today in New York City, the company has officially announced the Lumia 950 and Lumia 950 XL smartphones, the latest members of the Lumia family of devices.

Microsoft's head of devices Panos Panay stated during the event said that the new Lumias have adaptive antenna technology along with a "tablet-class" liquid-cooling technology, based on technology derived from Surface tablet team. Both have QHD OLED screens and both allow users to pull the phones out of their pocket and have the Glance feature automatically turn on.

Both of the phones will have a rear 20MP camera sensor, with a triple-LED RGB natural flash, a 5th-gen OIS, and a dedicated camera button. Both will have 32GB internal storage along with a microSD card slot for adding more storage, Both will have a USB Type-C port for charging, and both will suport Qualcomm's Quick Charge, which will allow the phones to charge up to 50% of its battery life in 30 minutes. It will also support up to 5 Gbps in terms of data transfer rate.

The Lumia 950 will have the Snapdragon 808 hexa-core processor and a 5.2-inch screen with a no-contract price of $549 and the Lumia 950 XL will have a Snapdragon 810 octa-core processor and a 5.7-inch screen for the price of $649. Both are due in November.

The new Lumias will also support Windows Hello biometric authentication, in part due to an beta of its iris scanner beta. It will unlock just by picking up the phone and looking at it

Stay tuned for more news from today's Windows 10 hardware event from Microsoft.

Learn more at Microsoft

John Callaham