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With the Lumia 950/XL and Windows 10 Mobile now a reality, what do you think of Microsoft's chances?

By Chris P.

Updated: Dec 21, 2015, 8:10 AM

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With the Lumia 950/XL and Windows 10 Mobile now a reality, what do you think of Microsoft's chances?

Announced on April 4th of 2014, the Lumia 930 was the acting flagship for Microsoft in the a year and a half leading up to the long-expected refresh in the Lumia 950 and 950 XL. In the interim, Microsoft says it was working harder than ever to ensure that Windows 10 for Mobile really changed things up for the struggling platform. A fine strategy by us — we assume as much by default anyway.

Fast forwarding to today, and we have both these products as a market reality. The Lumia 950 and 950 XL are both available to purchase since late November, and the duo comes with the Windows 10 code pre-loaded. The long wait is over, and though the holiday season is still ahead of us, it'll soon be time to ask some difficult questions. Like, did all the hard work pay off? Is Windows 10 the platform update that finally pushes Microsoft into contested territory? Or is it yet another meaningful, but ultimately futile effort that won't result in a break-up of the status quo?

Of course, it might be true that Microsoft needs more time to get developers —who can now build apps for all Microsoft platforms much easier— to really get down to work and at least narrow the long-standing app gap between Windows for mobile and competing Android and iOS. So we'll probably come back to this topic say, half a year down the line, but for now we'll contend ourselves with an early reading of the public. Said otherwise, that's enough talk —let's vote!

With the Lumia 950/XL and Windows 10 Mobile now a reality, what do you think of Microsoft's chances?

These two are game changers, Microsoft is going places

40.45%

Can't say

36.28%

It's certain now: Microsoft's mobile division is on path to extinction

23.28%

1392 Votes

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Chris Panayotov is a former mobile tech reviewer of phones, tablets and wearables at PhoneArena. However, his contribution to PhoneArena content includes not just reviews, but all kinds of regular and experimental features, such as news stories, buying guides, and an exclusive column on the most notable phones out of Asia.