Microsoft To Release 2 Windows 10 Mobile Phones Under $80 Price Tag

Microsoft is gearing up to release two entry-level Windows 10 Mobile powered smartphones. The icing on the cake is that, the new handsets’ price range will apparently not cross $80.

The ever-credible Chinese publication DigiTimes says, in the past few years, the increase in demand for LTE smartphones in China has skyrocketed. Microsoft will be utilizing this opportunity to make inexpensive Windows 10 Mobile-based smartphones and target the Chinese market. The price ambit of less than $80 clearly denotes that the handsets will not be the fully specced version. This means the hardware restrictions on the phone, due to the price constraint, will not allow such handsets to take full advantage of the plethora of features offered by Windows 10 Mobile, notes Phone Arena.

The Windows 10 Mobile handsets will be powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 210 processor, which comes with four Cortex-A7 cores, running at 1.1 GHz. The graphics will be backed by Adreno 304 GPU. The devices will support standard connectivity options like Bluetooth v4.1 and Wi-Fi 802.11n.

The screen size is unknown at this point, but the handsets will come with 720p resolution, says Phone Arena. The smartphones will house a solid 8 MP rear-facing camera, bundled with 1080p video recording and playback capability. Needless to say, for an entry-level sub-$80 smartphone, the 8 MP camera unit is a good value.

As the handset houses Qualcomm’s processor, the cellular modem comes with multi-band 3G and 4G LTE connectivity support. In addition, the handset will be capable of handling dual-SIM, which is the norm in China. Nonetheless, readers should note that, Microsoft has not confirmed specifications thus far. These handsets are expected to hit store shelves sometime in Q4 2015, towards the holiday season.

Meanwhile, the Verge says, the Windows 10 OS release date has been finalized. A trusted source informed the tech site that Microsoft will be packing the build 10240 as the final release to manufacturing. The Windows 10 will reportedly be launched on July 29.