Microsoft goes bling with the launch of gold edition Lumia smartphones

Microsoft has leapt onto the bling bandwagon with the launch of a gold edition of its flagship Lumia 930 smartphone, as well as one for its recently unveiled Lumia 830.

Announced back in April, the Lumia 930 was one of the first devices built specifically for Windows Phone 8.1, and it has already shipped in a number of colors, including green, orange, and white.

Now, you can add gold to that list.

The Lumia 830, on the other hand, was announced just a few months back, and is designed to cater for the mid-range smartphone market.

The phones aren’t entirely caked in gold, however. They come in black or white variants, with a gold trim finishing touch.

The Lumia 830 incarnation will be available from next month in Europe, Asia Pacific, China, India, and across select markets in the Middle East and Africa. The price will vary across the board.

If you can’t wait, then the Lumia 930 black/gold version will be available from this week, with the white one arriving later this month. Again, prices will vary by market, but to give you an idea, the existing non-gold incarnation costs $690 off-contract.

Of course, Lumia isn’t the first golden device to hit the smartphone market. Apple launched a gold version of the iPhone 5S back in 2013, while Samsung too dabbled with this glitzy color scheme with the Galaxy S4.