Microsoft Lumia 550 to be first budget Windows 10 phone

Ever since the launch of Windows 10, we’ve been eagerly awaiting the arrival of Windows 10 Mobile. There’s already been plenty of rumours surrounding Microsoft’s next flagship Windows 10 Mobile handsets, the Lumia 950 and Lumia 950 XL, but this time we might have had our first glimpse at Microsoft’s first entry-level Windows 10 Mobile smartphone in the form of the Lumia 550.

According to Russian site OneTile (and apparently verified by WMPowerUser.com), the successor to the Lumia 640 will have a 4.7in 1,280×720 AMOLED display, a quad-core 1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 210 processor, 1GB of RAM, 8GB of internal storage and a microSD card slot. It will also be available in multiple colours, including white, black, bright blue and bright red, and its chassis will be made out of a similar polycarbonate material to current Lumia handsets.

There’s currently no word on what type of camera sensor it will have, but either way, these specs are decidedly entry-level, particularly if Microsoft’s chosen a Snapdragon 210 rather than the more common Snapdragon 410 processor prevalent in most of 2015’s entry-level smartphones. However, there’s also been speculation that, while not present in the leaked render below, the phone will have a front-facing camera, or possibly even an iris scanner.

While highly unlikely on such a budget smartphone, we won’t know for sure until Microsoft makes an official announcement. We probably won’t have to wait very long for one either, as Microsoft is due to hold a press conference on 9th October, where it’s largely expected we’ll hear more about the Lumia 950 and 950 XL, and thus a full run-down of all the new features in Windows 10 Mobile, as well as a second generation Microsoft Band. We should also see the next iteration of Microsoft’s two-in-one tablet, the Surface Pro 4, which we’re hoping will really show off Windows 10’s flexible, scalable OS to the full.