Microsoft Devices expands Lumia range

Launches three new phones in mid-to-high price points, to expand affordable range soon

Microsoft Devices, erstwhile Nokia, on Wednesday, launched three new Lumia devices in the mid to high price points to cash in on the festive season across the country. The devices will be available in market over the next two weeks.

The company has priced Lumia 730 at Rs 15,299, the Lumia 830 at Rs 28,799 and flagship the Lumia 930 is priced at Rs 38,649. All the three devices fall in a category that accounts for a third of the total smartphone market in India.

At a time when the home-grown smartphone makers are focussing on bringing in more affordable handsets at price points below Rs 10,000 with Android One and the entry-level category with Firefox, Microsoft Devices has stuck to the mid-to-high end category. “We have devices across segments and we are democratising across price points. In the coming months, there will be more launches, including the affordable smartphones,” said Ajey Mehta, managing director, Nokia India Sales Pvt Ltd, a subsidiary of Mobiles Oy.

Mehta said Microsoft services like Skype, OneNote and Cortana will be available across most of the mid and high-end Lumia smartphones which would be a unique selling point. “The association of Microsoft and Nokia ensures better offering, and it would get better in coming days,” he added. The company will also offer 1TB of cloud storage free for the first six months bundled with all three new devices launched today. After the initial six mobnths, users will have to pay Rs 125 per month for the cloud space.

The company has so far sold 50 million Lumia devices and India has emerged as one of the top four markets for Microsoft Devices.

Lumia 930 was globally launched in April. The device comes with 20MP PureView camera with ZEISS optics and advanced Rich Recording, a 2.2GHz Snapdragon quad-core processor, 2GB RAM and 32 GB internal storage. Lumia 830 comes with 10MP camera wth Carl Zeiss optic, 1.2GHz Snapdragon quad-core processor, 1GB RAM and 16GB internal storage. Lumia 730 is a dual SIM model and the most affordable device with wireless charging. The device is being labelled as the phone for 'selfies and skype'.