John Legere says T-Mobile didn’t turn down Microsoft’s Lumia 950 and Lumia 950 XL
T-Mobile has sold quite a few Windows smartphones in the past, but when Microsoft unveiled its new Lumia 950 and Lumia 950 XL smartphones earlier this week, there was no mention of Magenta. Turns out that Microsoft may not have even approached T-Mobile about carrying its new phones.
In the days since the new Lumias were announced, lots of folks have wondered if Microsoft’s devices would be coming to their carrier. So far AT&T is the only US carrier to announce plans to carry one of the new Lumia phones, and according to John Legere, Microsoft decided to only offer the devices to AT&T. “We were told it would be old school exclusive, like the #Firephone,” Legere Tweeted in response to a Tweet about the Lumia 950 being on AT&T. Legere went on to say that T-Mo didn’t turn out the new Lumia phones and that “if @microsoft wakes up, we’ll talk about @TMobile carrying.”
To be clear: We did not turn down the new Windows devices. MSFT gave to AT&T. If @microsoft wakes up, we’ll talk about @TMobile carrying
— John Legere (@JohnLegere) October 8, 2015
@block_kevin we were told it would be old school exclusive, like the #Firephone
— John Legere (@JohnLegere) October 7, 2015
Meanwhile, Microsoft tells CNET that it’s been in talks with other US carriers to offer the new Lumia phones but that none of them have struck a deal yet.
Microsoft is planning to sell both the Lumia 950 and Lumia 950 XL in November for $549 and $649, respectively, so T-Mobile customers that really want one could buy an unlocked unit and bring it to the Magenta network (both phones support LTE bands 2, 4, and 12). It’d be nice to see T-Mobile officially carry at least one of ‘em, though, because that’d make them easier to buy and would result in VoLTE support, too. However, right now it looks like Windows fans may have to go unlocked if they want to use the Lumia 950 or Lumia 950 XL on T-Mobile.