Microsoft launches 4G Lumia 640XL phablet for $399 in Australia, as its smartphone market share hits 9.3%

Microsoft has launched its 4G/LTE-capable midrange 5-inch Lumia 640 smartphone and 5.7-inch Lumia 640XL phablet in Australia this morning, bundled with a free one-year personal Office 365 subscription and a terabyte of OneDrive storage.

The Windows Phone 8.1 with Lumia Denim devices will be able to be upgraded to Windows 10 when it launches later this year, and were unveiled by the company at this year’s Mobile World Congress last month in Barcelona.

The 640 costs $299 outright and includes a 5-inch 1280×720 pixel IPS-LCD display, an 8-megapixel main camera, a 1-megapixel front-facing camera and a 2500 mAh battery. The 640XL costs $399, includes a 5.7-inch 1280×720 pixel IPS-LCD display, a 13-megapixel main camera, 3-megapixel rear camera and a 3000 mAh battery.

Both devices are powered by a 1.2 GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 processor and feature a removable battery and 8GB storage expandable up to 128GB by micro SD. The one year Office 365 subscriptions bundled with each device can also be used on one PC or Mac, and one (Android, iOS or Windows) tablet, and also comes with 60 Skype world minutes of calling per month for 12 months.

Meanwhile, there was good news for the company on another front, with Kantar WorldPanel figures for the three months ending February 2015 showing the Windows Phone now claims 9.3% of the Australian smartphone market, nearly doubling from 5% a year earlier.

The figures also show year-on-year market share growth from Apple (from 33.9% to 38.5%) and BlackBerry (0.7% to 1.2%), while Android fell from 58.5% to 50.6% market share.