[donkiluminate]

800-900 at launch and 500-600 four months later.

[11B1P]

^ LOL, are you serious??

[someone2639]

Remember, 950 leakers are still under at least 1 NDA. Who knows what else the renders leave out (stylus slot, metal, etc.) for the sake of privacy? I say $700 with that in mind.

[donkiluminate]

^ LOL, are you serious??

Sure am

[imnotevenhererightnow]

Sure am

funny, you don't sound serious. If you were, you'd offer a rationale for that thinking. Right now, I don't see any reasonable argument for these phones commanding that kind of premium ($800-$900). It's a marginal OS with very little relative demand compared with iOS or Android. It's not as though these are 24K gold-plated phones or jewel encrusted either.

So, without some sound reasoning (and I don't mean "derp, retinal scanner means $200 extra dollars"), I'm pretty sure you're not here to contribute anything substantive.

[ytrewq]

This is a turning point for MS. If these phones don't bump the needle of Windows Phone market share, developers won't port the apps over to it, and other hardware partners have no reason to make Windows phones. Windows Mobile 10 will be dead. But if MS can get people to buy the phones, even with a reasonable bump in market share, developers will get on board, and hardware partners will get on board.

I don't believe they'll sell the phone so cheap it creates the impression that it's a cheap phone, or that hardware partners have to take a loss to build alternative Windows Phones that consumers might buy instead. But they have to use price to give people a reason to buy a phone that doesn't have developer support.

History has shown time and again that, if MS makes good pricing decisions, it can close a market gap, but if they come late to the party and try to price their product in line with those who developed products first, MS loses. MS was late to the party with the original Xbox, and they discounted prices below the competition and, for a time, won the console war. MS was late to the party with the Zune, but that time they tried to price it in the same range as the iPod. Look how that turned out. Then, with the Xbox One, MS also insisted on charging a premium price and dug deep into a hole, which they're still digging out of by selling at prices well below the PS4.

With mobile, MS was later to the party than they were with any of those other devices. So, they have no real market share, which means no real developers, which means no meaningful support from hardware partners building Windows phones. To avoid extinction in mobile, MS needs to do something drastic.

One possibility would be phones that are truly so far above the competition they can't be ignored. The 950 and 950XL are very nice phones, but there are plenty of nice phones with great specs out there. So that won't cut it. MS is clearly banking on Continuum being important, but I don't think that's going to radically change the landscape. If MS is going to do something drastic (as it must), it needs to price these phones to get people to take a chance on an OS that no one is buying.

I think $450 for the 950 and $500 for the 950XL gets people's attention. These would be great phones at those prices, and Continuum et al. would be a bonus on an already great bargain of a phone. If they come out with those prices, I'll buy an XL the first day the unlocked version is available. But I don't think they will do that. MS has such a history of bad decisions on pricing that I suspect they will try to ignore the fact that they are late to the party and repeat the experience of Zune. They will charge $600 for the 950 and $700 for the XL. And no one will buy them. Even me, a die-hard Windows fan, will wring my hands, and at the end of the day, I may pick one up, but I'm just as likely to keep using my Icon for now and eventually pick up something like the Sony Xperia Z5 Premium (a super nice phone with a great camera and an OS that developers actually support).

We'll see.

[bo_woods]

this is a turning point for ms. If these phones don't bump the needle of windows phone market share, developers won't port the apps over to it, and other hardware partners have no reason to make windows phones. Windows mobile 10 will be dead. But if ms can get people to buy the phones, even with a reasonable bump in market share, developers will get on board, and hardware partners will get on board.

I don't believe they'll sell the phone so cheap it creates the impression that it's a cheap phone, or that hardware partners have to take a loss to build alternative windows phones that consumers might buy instead. But they have to use price to give people a reason to buy a phone that doesn't have developer support.

History has shown time and again that, if ms makes good pricing decisions, it can close a market gap, but if they come late to the party and try to price their product in line with those who developed products first, ms loses. Ms was late to the party with the original xbox, and they discounted prices below the competition and, for a time, won the console war. Ms was late to the party with the zune, but that time they tried to price it in the same range as the ipod. Look how that turned out. Then, with the xbox one, ms also insisted on charging a premium price and dug deep into a hole, which they're still digging out of by selling at prices well below the ps4.

With mobile, ms was later to the party than they were with any of those other devices. So, they have no real market share, which means no real developers, which means no meaningful support from hardware partners building windows phones. To avoid extinction in mobile, ms needs to do something drastic.

One possibility would be phones that are truly so far above the competition they can't be ignored. The 950 and 950xl are very nice phones, but there are plenty of nice phones with great specs out there. So that won't cut it. Ms is clearly banking on continuum being important, but i don't think that's going to radically change the landscape. If ms is going to do something drastic (as it must), it needs to price these phones to get people to take a chance on an os that no one is buying.

I think $450 for the 950 and $500 for the 950xl gets people's attention. These would be great phones at those prices, and continuum et al. Would be a bonus on an already great bargain of a phone. If they come out with those prices, i'll buy an xl the first day the unlocked version is available. But i don't think they will do that. Ms has such a history of bad decisions on pricing that i suspect they will try to ignore the fact that they are late to the party and repeat the experience of zune. They will charge $600 for the 950 and $700 for the xl. And no one will buy them. Even me, a die-hard windows fan, will wring my hands, and at the end of the day, i may pick one up, but i'm just as likely to keep using my icon for now and eventually pick up something like the sony xperia z5 premium (a super nice phone with a great camera and an os that developers actually support).

We'll see.

yes

[spiff_p239]

I'd love to see Microsoft take a page out of Motorola's playbook and follow along the lines of the Moto X Pure Edition's pricing scheme. If I could get the Lumia 950 for ~$450, I'd be very tempted to give it a shot. I can't see them selling too many 950s or XLs if they price them at or near the cost of an iPhone 6s or Galaxy S6 edge+.

[imnotevenhererightnow]

Rumour: The Lumia 950 XL will be pricy, but come with 200 Euro worth of accessories - WMPoweruser

Make of this what you will, but I don't like the sound of these handsets carrying the premium approaching that of an iPhone 6s and 6s Plus.

If it shows up in the US market as a bundle, they can forget about it entirely. I'll do my own bundling thanks very much.

[gazmatic]

Well... according to this linked website, it will be cheaper than an iphone6s, in france, but come with lots of accessories. Iphones are quite expensive in france... so I'm guessing it will be quite expensive.

Big mistake. It should be under $600

Google Translate

[imnotevenhererightnow]

Here's an additional update from WMPU: Spanish pricing of Lumia 950 and 950 XL revealed, and its not pretty - WMPoweruser

smh @ Microsoft

[spiff_p239]

I'm sorry, but there's no way I'd pay iPhone 6s prices for the 950 at this point, unless it came with that list of bundled accessories from the French pricing article. Even so, I'd prefer to buy the phone by itself and the pick up whichever add-ons I actually want/need.

[ohlumia]

Long time windows fan here and sadly I am right there with you - at these prices, people would rather go Android and then iOS.
They can bundle the world in it, I'm not going to drop iPhone 6s money for a a windows phone. That title has to be earned with ecosystem, not accessories.

I bought windows phone mainly for the OS and then the camera. We don't have the better camera anymore.
As for the OS, iOS will do just fine if I have to spend 700$. Oh wait, the Lumia 640 is doing just fine, maybe I'm not the right target for this phone but then I wonder who is...

If this was a surface phone, I would give it the benefit of the doubt but throwing another Lumia right now into the market at iPhone prices will just be repeating the mistakes of the 1520. Great device that nobody buys except windows phone fans cause nobody even knows that the damn thing exist, let's not even get into the career distribution fiasco...

Microsoft doesn't even have the luxury to call people fans with windows phone mobile these days. They had so many chances, they blew every single one of them. They have to reprove themselves, better price right than knee-jerk adjust the price in light of bad sales.
They need these handsets in as many hands as possible for people to get bathed in whatever new features they are selling, charging iPhone 6s money is the sure way to kill windows phone. I hope they won't make that mistake.

Cheers,

I'm sorry, but there's no way I'd pay iPhone 6s prices for the 950 at this point, unless it came with that list of bundled accessories from the French pricing article. Even so, I'd prefer to buy the phone by itself and the pick up whichever add-ons I actually want/need.

[spiff_p239]

Long time windows fan here and sadly I am right there with you - at these prices, people would rather go Android and then iOS.
They can bundle the world in it, I'm not going to drop iPhone 6s money for a a windows phone. That title has to be earned with ecosystem, not accessories.

I bought windows phone mainly for the OS and then the camera. We don't have the better camera anymore.
As for the OS, iOS will do just fine if I have to spend 700$. Oh wait, the Lumia 640 is doing just fine, maybe I'm not the right target for this phone but then I wonder who is...

If this was a surface phone, I would give it the benefit of the doubt but throwing another Lumia right now into the market at iPhone prices will just be repeating the mistakes of the 1520. Great device that nobody buys except windows phone fans cause nobody even knows that the damn thing exist, let's not even get into the career distribution fiasco...

Microsoft doesn't even have the luxury to call people fans with windows phone mobile these days. They had so many chances, they blew every single one of them. They have to reprove themselves, better price right than knee-jerk adjust the price in light of bad sales.
They need these handsets in as many hands as possible for people to get bathed in whatever new features they are selling, charging iPhone 6s money is the sure way to kill windows phone. I hope they won't make that mistake.

Cheers,

I can definitely agree with you on pretty much every single point. I'm finding it hard to keep the 950 in consideration after seeing what W10 has done to my Surface Pro 3. If I even try to use the Edge browser or Internet Explorer, my SP3 starts to heat up almost immediately, the fan runs constantly, and the input lags horribly even when all I'm doing is light web browsing. Add in the fact that the built in mail app says that my mail settings are out of date multiple times per day and I'm worried about how the final Windows 10 Mobile product is going to perform.

As for hardware, Microsoft needs to take a page out of Motorola's playbook when it came to the Moto X Pure Edition. Carrier exclusives have been absolutely killing them and crippling their best devices like the Lumia Icon. I found one cheap online and decided to give it a try and it's a decent device that could be better if it had the most recent software. MS needs to make the 950/950XL function on every carrier regardless of whether VZW/Spring/AT&T/T-Mobile actually carry it. I dropped my VZW SIM card into the Moto X PE and it connected to the network immediately. That functionality also takes the carrier out of the equation when it comes to software updates. If W10 Mobile is released the same way as W10 proper was, it is going to need a constant string of updates to add functionality and squash bugs. I want a phone that runs smoothly out of the box and if it doesn't, I don't want to wait 6 months for a carrier to approve an update. If MS can't get me updates, I will be forced to look elsewhere for a phone, whether it's the 2015 Nexus 5X or the iPhone 6s. At least with those options, I'll be guaranteed support.

[jadebaarthi]

32000 and 37000 rupees in India..!?

[erzhik]

In US?

950 - $400
950XL - $450-$500

I just don't see them going higher than that. People will not be lining up for these phones as is, and if you go above $500 price range for XL, you are really begging people to make fun of you. It will definitely not go into $800 range like some people think, it's not an iPhone. Lumias have nothing going their way anymore. No colors, complete lack of apps, most likely carrier branding, no real fan base, no premium accessories, no in-car support, nothing. If everything goes according to rumors, it seems like these phones will be something that will quickly fade away like 640 did.

Will I buy? Yes, as my 1520 needs to be replaced.

[imnotevenhererightnow]

In US?

950 - $400
950XL - $450-$500

I just don't see them going higher than that. People will not be lining up for these phones as is, and if you go above $500 price range for XL, you are really begging people to make fun of you. It will definitely not go into $800 range like some people think, it's not an iPhone. Lumias have nothing going their way anymore. No colors, complete lack of apps, most likely carrier branding, no real fan base, no premium accessories, no in-car support, nothing. If everything goes according to rumors, it seems like these phones will be something that will quickly fade away like 640 did.

Will I buy? Yes, as my 1520 needs to be replaced.

I would be inclined to agree with you if it weren't for the leaked European pricing. Now, maybe that includes the cost of all the additional accessories and whatnot. Whatever the case, I think that it's increasingly unlikely that these appear in the US at anything below $500. The LG G4 is down to $479 unlocked and is mostly better than the Moto X (except the UI).

950 at $550 and 950XL at $650 would be my guess for the phones only. If these come with continuum, however, I'm going to add at least $100-$150 to each of those.

[Vijay_Anand]

32000 and 37000 rupees in India..!?

I certainly hope so. I really want the 950, but I'm worried about the pricing. If it's selling anywhere between 30,000 to 35,000 INR, I'll buy it on Day One.

[Krystianpants]

I actually don't mind the new leaked renders. But now I'm hearing that carriers May once again be responsible for updates. My understanding was that windows 10 would let Microsoft take over the upgrades. If they can't do all devices like Apple and keep windows from becoming another android it's the strongest reason yet for me to abandon windows.

[heickelrrx]

Hmm.

Considering the hardware. I think it's about 12.000.000 IDR

Same price with iPhone 6.

Lumia isn't overpriced product after all

Wait. This or motorcycle?

[mikelpikel]

If you are right in that they won't sell well, few enthusiasts wanting a flagship and MS mentality that they don't care/expect high sales then WP is in deep trouble. Can't see WP being relegated to only the "budget minded" so budget /low-spec'd phones is what it'll be, for me MS has made the future of the WP very uncertain and confusing with their constant changes and delays, if they keep heading down this narrow path then we'll never see a great presence in the mobile phone market, so if the 950/950XL are a fail (if they actually materialize) then there is only one entity to blame and it is not the consumer... No, one or two handsets aren't going to make or break it, but, it does matter what kind of splash it makes coming into the market as to whether it has a negative or positive impact.

Well said, completely agree. There is way too much uncertainty and insecurity. We can only hope that if these phones are priced too high that they flop and undergo a dramatic price reduction.

[mikelpikel]

I am a huge MS fan, but frankly, i still havent seen the successor to the L1020 or my L1520.
If these 950's are it, then i will stay with my L1520, because it still looks brand new, it still feels brand new and it works like a brand new device.
Even if this 950XL would cost 350 USD i don't think i would buy it, but like everyone else i haven't seen them for real.

A Windows Mobile Surface device with a "6 screen and high end specs for about 700 to 800 USD i would buy in a heartbeat.

I completely agree, my 1520 works flawlessly. A new processor is greta but it needs to be accompanied by dramatically improved specs. I don't mind them staying with a 20MP camera but it needs to have a larger sensor. A colour spectrum sensor like the LG G4 would be a welcome addition too. I cannot for the life of me understand why they would add another LED flash, it seems to be completely unnecessary. Would it not be too powerful and add an even yellower tint to photographs? A Xenon flash would be completely logical instead, though a higher price tag would accompany it. Can someone who understands this new addition please explain to me why? If the additional flash produces a much needed improvement to low light photography then im all for it but I have my doubts. WP has completely stood out by creating superior cameras on smartphones that are at the top of the market. Once this is taken away, like I believe they have done with the 950 XL then why stay with WP? I apologize in advance for my book but I just needed to let it out

[Mark Morales]

$649 for the 950xl, $769 for the 950xl bundle (phone, case, dock, pen)... just a guess.

[troylytle]

From inside the business I would think about $599 for the 950 and $649 for the XL USD

[troylytle]

Also don't think they'll have continuum bundles in the US. So that's no accessory pricing.