Microsoft Lumia 950 XL Windows 10 Mobile Flagship Falls To $499, Ships With Free Display Dock

If you’re a fan of the Windows 10 Mobile operating system, and especially the Lumia 950 XL flagship smartphone (read Marco’s review right here), then you’ll likely want to jump on Microsoft's latest promotion. Microsoft is knocking $150 off the 5.7-inch Lumia 950 XL, which brings its price down to just $499.

For those keeping score, this new pricing undercuts the smaller 5.2-inch Lumia 950 by $50. To further sweeten the deal, Microsoft is also throwing in a Display Dock for free — this would normally set you back an additional $99. While the $150 discount and free Display Dock is no doubt an excellent deal, it pales in comparison to last month’s offer that gave customers purchasing a Lumia 950 XL a free Lumia 950.

For those that need a refresher course, the Lumia 950 XL comes unlocked from Microsoft for use on GSM carriers. It has a 5.7-inch WQHD display, Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 processor, 3GB of RAM, 32GB of internal storage, a microSD slot for expansion, a 20MP rear camera with optical image stabilization, and a removable 3340 mAh battery.

Microsoft has seen its already low smartphone market share continue to dwindle over the past year. During the first quarter of 2016, Microsoft sold just 2.3 million Lumia smartphones compared to 8.6 million in the same period a year ago. Part of that blame for the decline can be placed on customers abandoning the platform for Android and iOS, while the rest can blame can be placed squarely on Microsoft for a lack of focus.

"We're fully committed to that 4-inch screen, there will be a time for it to be our focus, but right now it's part of the family but it's not the core of where I hope to generate developer interest over the next year," said Microsoft's Terry Myerson in a March interview. "There's no lack of recognition to realize how important that form factor is, but for Microsoft with Windows and for our platform it's the wrong place for us to lead."

According to Gartner’s recent market analysis, Microsoft’s global share of the smartphone operating system market has fallen to just 0.7 percent, which is a decline from its 2.5 percent share during the same period a year ago.