Microsoft unveiled its latest flagship smartphones in more than a year – the Lumia 950 and Lumia 950 XL – in October at its big Windows 10 devices event. These are the company’s first flagships to run the brand’s latest Windows 10 operating system. Recently, the Redmond-based tech giant launched the new flagships in the Indian market.
The Lumia 950 and Lumia 950 XL, both smartphones share quite a feature specifications – same display resolution, system memory, internal storage, and software features. The Lumia 950 XL is is larger offering, while the Lumia 950 will impress those who like compact devices. If you are finding it hard to choose among these devices, let’s do a Lumia 950 vs Lumia 950 XL specs-wise comparison.
Lumia 950 vs Lumia 950 XL – features compared
Design
In terms of design, the Lumia 950 and Lumia 950 XL appear quite similar. They are clad in plastic and that doesn’t look or feel as premium as flagship offerings should. The Lumia 950 has its LED light placement outside the camera ring, while its bigger edition has it inside the ring. The Lumia 950 measures 8.2mm around the waist and weighs 150 grams, while the Lumia 950 XL offers a 8.1mm waistline and weighs slightly higher at 165 grams.
Display
The new Lumia’s are the brand’s first smartphones to boast displays with 2K resolution and ClearBlack OLED screen panels. The Lumia 950 gets a 5.2-inch Super AMOLED display with a pixel density of 564ppi. The Lumia 950 XL on the other hand boasts a 5.7-inch Super AMOLED screen featuring a pixel density of 518ppi. When it comes to media viewing experience, the Lumia 950 offers higher colour production, while the Lumia 950 XL offers a tablet like experience.
Configuration
Coming to the configuration, the Microsoft Lumia 950 is powered by a 1.8GHz hexa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 808 processor. The Lumia 950 XL on the other hand delivers better performance than its smaller sibling thanks to the 2GHz octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 processor. Both offer 3GB of RAM and 32GB of internal memory, which users can further increase up to 2TB via microSD cards.
Camera and Software
Camera and software features of the Lumia 950 and its bigger sibling are the same. They are equipped with 20MP PureView cameras with Zeiss optics, fifth-gen optical image stabilisation, triple RGB natural flash and dedicated camera shutters. For self-portraits, they sport 5MP front-facing snappers with wide-angle lens.
The Lumia 950 and 950 XL run Windows 10, so they are capable of running universal apps that are available for desktops. Most important feature of the new Lumias is that they ship with free Display Docks, which allows them to be used as full-fledged Windows 10 computers by connecting to a bigger screen and additional accessories. Other software features include Glance Screen, retina-based biometric authentication, Windows Hello, and Continuum.
Connectivity and Battery
In terms of connectivity, the Lumia 950 and 950 XL offer similar features including reversible USB Type-C ports, 4G LTE (Indian 4G bands supported), NFC, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.1, GPS, and dual-SIM slots as well. When it comes to the battery, the Lumia 950 is fuelled by a 3,000mAh battery, while the Lumia 950 XL gets a larger 3,340mAh battery thanks to its bigger size. Both support fast charging, wireless charging as well.
Conclusion
The Microsoft Lumia 950 and Lumia 950 XL are packed with high-resolution ClearBlack displays, high performance Snapdragon 800 series processors, meaty system memory, and more. Needless to say, the Lumia 950 XL is the better purchase of the two models. Yes it is bigger than the 950 and more expensive, but packs in a bigger battery and a faster Snapdragon 810 system on chip. The Lumia 950 has been priced at Rs 43,699, while the Lumia 950 XL is being offered for Rs 49,399. Microsoft is bundling these with free Display Dock that is priced at Rs 5,999 during the pre-booking period. So which new Lumia are you going for? Share with us all in the comments.