If the new discount offers on Lumia 950 and 950 XL are any indication, Microsoft may launch its Surface phone earlier than expected. In addition to the discounts, buyers of Lumia 950 XL handsets can now avail a limited-period free offer for Lumia 950, which means savings worth $700!
Currently, the offer is available to Lumia 950 and 950 XL buyers in Canada. Now customers can purchase the Lumia 950 XL for $849 and get a Lumia 950 worth $749 completely free. Perhaps, this is a new strategy of Microsoft to make way for the launch of the Microsoft Surface phone, The Verge reported.
The Redmond-headquartered tech titan has also made the offer available for loyal customers in the United States. Customers in the U.S. can purchase the Lumia 950 XL for $649 and get a Lumia 950 handset worth $549 free.
Several media outlets have reported that the discount offer is actually a way to make space in the company's storage for the Microsoft Surface phone. However, there is a section that believes that the promotion may be a result of the poor sales of the Lumia handsets. In its third quarter of 2016 fiscal earnings report, Microsoft has acknowledged that it could only sell 2.3 million Lumia units, which is a drop of 73 percent from the sales in the corresponding period in 2016.
Rumors regarding a Surface phone have been circulating since 2012, when Microsoft introduced the first line of Surface hybrids along with Windows 8. In fact, such rumors date back to even before the tech titan acquired the smartphone business of the Finnish company Nokia, including the Lumia smartphones.
Meanwhile, Microsoft has briefly added on the Windows 10 for mobile minimum hardware requirements page that the Qualcomm MSM8998 SoC is likely to succeed the Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 that currently powers most flagship Android handsets. Although Qualcomm is yet to name the new processor, chances are that it could be dubbed the Snapdragon 830, Forbes reported.
Quoting analysts, the report stated that the new processor may possibly be built on Samsung's 10nm FinFet process and in combination with 8GB RAM. This may actually be the processor that Microsoft will use to power the Surface phone.
Watch a supposed leak video of Microsoft's Surface phone below: