After months of waiting, Microsoft has finally announced new models for this year including two flagship models – the Lumia 950 and 950 XL and a budget model in the name of the Lumia 550.

The Lumia 950 and 950XL will be the first flagship phones of the company after it axed the Nokia branding and will replace last year’s Lumia 930 (Icon) and the Lumia 1520 from 2013.

The bigger Lumia 950 XL packs a 5.7-inch QHD AMOLED display, a Snapdragon 810 chip with an Adreno 430 GPU, two quad-core processors clocked at 2GHz and 1.5GHz, 3GB of RAM and the same liquid-cooling solution that’s implemented in the company’s new Surface products.

Microsoft has decided to go with a 20MP sensor with Carl Zeiss optics for the phone’s main camera, which also features optical image stabilization (OIS) and a triple LED flash. The rear camera is capable of recording 4K content at 2160p. Selfie lovers will also be delighted with the phone’s 5MP front-facing snapper that comes with its own LED flash.

The Lumia 950XL will pack a 3340mAh battery and a USB Type-C connector; and just like the Acer Jade Primo and other upcoming Windows 10 Mobile handsets, the Lumia 950XL will also support Continuum.

A notch down, we’ll find the base Lumia 950 with its 5.2-inch QHD AMOLED display with Glance Screen and ClearBlack technology. It has a Snapdragon 808 chip with 3GB of RAM. Its main camera is identical to that of its bigger sibling, but the 5MP selfie snapper on the front does without the LED flash. The battery has also been downgraded to 3000mAh.

Still a notch lower, is the Lumia 550, a 4.7-inch Windows 10 Mobile budget phone that sports a Snapdragon 210 chip with a 1.1GHz processor, 1GB of RAM and 8GB of expandable on-board storage. The phone also boasts a 5MP/2MP camera combo, a 2100mAh battery, LTE connectivity and swappable polycarbonate back covers.

All three phones will be available starting next month, with the Lumia 950 XL to retail for $650, while the Lumia 950 and 550 will sell for $550 and $139 respectively.

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Microsoft has just announced two new budget Windows Phone handsets that cost less than $100.

For about $83, consumers can get the Lumia 435. It has a 4-inch LCD display with 800x480 pixel resolution. Under the hood, there’s a Snapdragon 200 chip with a dual-core processor, 1GB of RAM and 8GB of expandable storage.

You’ll also be getting a 2MP camera at the back that is capable of capturing 480p videos at 30fps, a VGA front-facing camera, a 1560mAh battery, 3G connectivity, A-GPS with GLONASS and two SIM card slots.

Now for an additional $10, users can get a few upgrades with the Lumia 532. The device comes with a Snapdragon 200 chip with 1.2GHz quad-core CPU, 1GB of RAM and 8GB of expandable storage (with a 30GB complimentary OneDrive cloud storage). The rear camera has also been upgraded from 2MP to 5MP.

The rest of the specs are identical to the Lumia 435 including the VGA front-facing camera, the 1560mAh battery and dual SIM support. Both phones will be available in February in select markets in Europe, India, the Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa.

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Microsoft has recent confirmed that its budget Windows smartphone the Lumia 535 is experiencing some issues specifically with its touchscreen. According to a number of consumers who purchase the handset, the phone is having some problems registering touch input.

The device is apparently having difficulty detecting multi-touch input on its display as well as not being able to register a tap leading to incorrect selection on its UI or worse not being able to do anything on the device.

Microsoft has acknowledged the issue and is apparently working on a solution to fix the problem as soon as possible. The fix will be rolled out as a small software updated over the air and should come in the coming days.

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Back in June, we heard that Nokia was working on a successor to its highly-praised Lumia 1020 smartphone. During that time, what we saw was a concept phone codenamed McLaren that’s made from aluminum and sporting a slightly smaller camera sensor compared to the 1020. This week, some live photos of what appears to be a Lumia phone with a big sensor were posted on the internet.

The phone just like the Lumia 1020 packs a massive PureView camera module at the back (reportedly a 50MP sensor), which is said to be Zeiss-certified and apparently comes with a dual-LED flash. Other notable specs of the device include a 1080p display, 2GB of RAM, a quad-core Snapdragon chip and 32GB of on-board storage.

Moreover, the leaked photos suggest that the handset will support 4G connectivity, a micro SIM and a microSD card slot. The photo also shows the size of the phone compared to an iPhone 6, which shows that the phone might have the same 4.7-inch display as the iPhone or probably slightly bigger that tops at 5 inches.

Microsoft naturally hasn’t provided any confirmation yet, so we do advise to take this bit of information with a dash of salt. But with a live unit out there somewhere, the handset’s announcement seems imminent and all we have to do is wait.

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Finally, Microsoft’s first Lumia without the Nokia branding has been introduced possibly marking the end of the Nokia brand of mobile phones, which once held the title of the top phone maker in the world.

In all fairness to Microsoft, it has made the new Lumia 535 as competitive as possible, with a 5-inch IPS display with qHD resolution (960 x 540 pixels) covered by a Gorilla Glass 3 panel, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 200 SoC with a 1.2GHz quad-core processor, 1GB of RAM and 8GB of expandable storage.

Microsoft is also marketing the 535 as a 5x5x5 device thanks to its 5MP front and rear camera partnered with its 5-inch display. Power will be supplied by a 1905mAh battery while software will of course be handled by Windows Phone 8.1 with Lumia Denim.

The Microsoft Lumia 535 will be offered starting this month either as a single-SIM or dual-SIM version for around $137 in a variety of colors including white, black, orange, green and cyan to name a few.

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Microsoft’s Lumia event is just a few hours away but the Chinese crowd is already feasting on some photos of an alleged Lumia 535 and then some. A new photo shows the reported Lumia 535 and another tablet presumably the successor of the Lumia 1320.

The Lumia 535 is expected to have a 5-inch qHD display (540 x 960 pixels), a Snapdragon 200 SoC with a 1.2GHz quad-core processor, 1GB of RAM, 8GB of on-board storage, a 5MP rear camera and a VGA selfie camera. There will also be support for two SIM cards but connectivity is limited to 3G only.

However, there’s not a lot of information about the Lumia 1330, but with it appearing close to the 535 at this point in time, it wouldn’t be impossible for it to be announced tomorrow as well.

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A few weeks ago, Microsoft announced that they will be dropping the Nokia brand off the future generation of Lumia smartphones. This week, we see probably the first Nokia brand-free model from Microsoft as it passes through the Chinese TENAA website.

Bearing the model number RM-1090, the Lumia phone will reportedly have a 5-inch display with a resolution of 960 x 540 pixels, a 1900mAh battery and two SIM card slots. Information on specs aren’t available yet, but based on the images, it looks like this device will be geared towards the entry-level and mid-range market as its design is closer to lower-end Nokia Lumias.

As this an entry-level device, connectivity is limited to 3G only. Even though the price isn’t confirmed yet, it’s likely that it will be priced competitively so as to compete with Google’s upcoming Android One lineup.

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