Chinese website WPDang first reported on the news, subsequently confirmed by The Verge. Other sites had previously heard that Microsoft was planning to show off its upcoming Lumia 950 and 950 XL Windows 10 Mobile smartphones at the IFA trade show next month but it looks as though that plan has been shunned in favour of a massive launch of several new Windows 10 devices at once in October.
Microsoft fans will have enough to talk about afterwards as the company is thought to be launching updates to four of its most major products. It’s worth mentioning that none of this is official and plans may change again.
The most important headline launch will be for the Lumia 950 and 950 XL, currently known as Talkman and Cityman respectively. The two devices will be representing Windows 10 Mobile with their high-end hardware.
Talkman has a hexa-core Snapdragon 808 processor and a 5.2-inch QHD display. Cityman is 5.7-inches and equipped with an octa-core Snapdragon 810. 20MP cameras will be present on both although Cityman will be the true range-topper with a Surface Pen and built-in iris scanner for Windows Hello support.
As the Lumias go off stage, the Surface Pro 4 professional-grade tablet is expected to be unveiled. The Surface Pro 3 successfully resurrected the Surface line last year and is still selling well today. The updated version will include a fingerprint scanner and be one of the first devices to include Intel’s faster, more power efficient Skylake processors.
Microsoft is also expected to launch some less heavily-leaked devices. The Microsoft Band 2 may make an appearance while a slimmer version of the Xbox One games console is apparently also planned.
The Band, Microsoft’s fitness tracker crossed with elements of a smartwatch, may be an outlier at the event as it is not thought to run Windows 10, instead opting for an integrated firmware as with the original Band. Microsoft is likely to use the event to launch the new Windows 10 interface for the Xbox One so a slimmer version of the console would fit in well alongside the Windows 10 Lumia and Surface announcements.
The company is understandably keeping quiet so far on any of its arrangements but it is expected to follow-up on the launch of Windows 10 with a very healthy selection of devices that run it. With device launches generally rare in October, it’ll be all eyes on Microsoft as the company keeps fans sitting for hours while updates to all its most famous hardware lines come along in one press event.
