Report Leaks Microsoft Lumia 950 Release Date

The Lumia 950, Microsoft’s iPhone rival and best hope for offering a premium Windows 10 experience on mobile devices this year, is launching very soon. In fact, reports indicate the Lumia 950 release date is November 20th for some users.

Windows Central reports that sources it’s spoken with say the Microsoft and wireless carrier AT&T Wireless have set the Lumia 950 release date as November 20th for shoppers in the United States. The Lumia 950 is one of two flagship devices that Microsoft announced at a Windows 10 devices event back in October. The Lumia 950 and Lumia 950 XL are the only two flagship Windows phones expected to go on sale this year and compete against the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus. Each has a high-definition display, the latest Snapdragon processors and lots of RAM. In short, they’re better phones than Windows Phone users have ever had access to.

The outlet says that multiple sources have confirmed the Lumia 950 release date as November 20th for AT&T Wireless. “We have had further confirmation that this is the target date” the outlet explains in a recent report. That report goes onto speculate about the reasons for the Lumia 950 release date being delayed.

Read: Lumia 950 iPhone 6s Rivals Leak Again

Allegedly, the delay is because Microsoft’s software teams needed to finish up work on Windows Hello. Windows Hello allows owners of Windows 10, notebooks, desktops, smartphones and tablets to login with just their face. The feature does seem to have possibly held up other devices releases. Microsoft didn’t release the software to get Windows Hello working on its Surface Pro 4 until the day it was actually released. The company describes Windows Hello as in Beta, a marker the company users for anything that’s not quite finished yet. The Lumia 950 and Lumia 950 XL have Iris Scanners that allow those devices to identify their owners. Windows Hello is really Microsoft’s version of Touch ID, the fingerprint sensor that Apple now embeds in iPhone and iPads to let users login.

What we’re still missing is the Lumia 950 price with a two-year contract at AT&T. AT&T will be the only carrier in the United States to offer the Lumia 950 at discount with a contract signing. Microsoft said earlier this year that it planned to slim down its carrier portfolio and reboot its entire presence on store shelves. There’ll be international carrier options too, but the crux of Microsoft plan’s revolves around selling its devices directly to users. Internationally, both the Lumia 950 and Lumia 950 XL will be sold directly from the Microsoft Store website to users.

Early on, it was believed that the Lumia 950 would be exclusive to AT&T in the United States. That could still be true, but the Microsoft Store does have a listing for the Unlocked Lumia 950, but no price is listed. Presumably, we’ll learn more about the unlocked Lumia 950 pricing and release date closer to November 20th.

The Lumia 950 has a Qualcomm Snapdragon 808 processor with six different cores and 3GB of RAM. As far as processing speed and raw horsepower, it’s only eclipsed by the Lumia 950 XL, which has an eight core processor. There’s an OLED 5.2-inch WQHD touchscreen display with a resolution of 2560 x 1440 pixels. The rear-facing camera on the Lumia 950 has a 20 megapixel sensor with optical image stabilization for recording better video. The front facing camera has a 5 megapixel sensor.

Read: Microsoft Reveals Stunning Windows 10 for Phones Feature

A USB Type C port lets the Lumia 950 connect to a dock accessory that connects to a mouse, display and keyboard. Called Continuum, this feature allows users to pull up the same Windows Store apps from their phone and skip buying a separate Windows PC.