Microsoft's focus on the lower segment of the smartphone market allows the company to get some traction and improve its global mobile presence, which is currently being dominated by Google's Android OS. Microsoft's Lumia 625 and 535 are examples of the scale of the company's efforts to maximize its stream of revenue in a very lucrative, yet highly competitive, industry by releasing devices targeted to those who are on a very thin budget. 

While both devices run Microsoft's fluid mobile operating system, there are several differences that separate them. For instance, owning the Lumia 535 allows the owner to use two network carriers simultaneously. According to the hardware specifications listed on Microsoft's websites, the Lumia 535 possesses a larger form factor of 5.0 inches while also offering a crisp resolution of 960 x 540 pixels, compared to the Lumia 625's 4.7-inch screen size that renders 800 x 480 pixels.  

The Lumia 535's Snapdragon 200 chipset, which features a quad-core 1.2 GHz Cortex A7, 1 GB of RAM and an Adreno 302 GPU also promise better overall performance than the dual-core processor and 512 MB of RAM present in the Lumia 625's Snapdragon 400 SoC. Both devices possess an internal capacity of 8 GB, but another perk of owning the Lumia 535 is that it allows users to expand their external storage up to a limit of 128 GB, while Lumia 625 owners are limited to 64 GB. 

Both smartphones are equipped with a 5-megapixel rear camera, although the Lumia 625 gains the upper hand when it comes to recording capability at 1080p, compared to the Lumia 535's 480p resolution.  However, the Lumia 535 boasts a 5-megapixel front-facing cam while its smaller kin only has a VGA selfie-snapper.

In addition, the Lumia 625 also possesses a slightly bigger battery at 2000 mAh, but the rating difference between the two smartphones' batteries is only 95 mAh, resulting in a modicum amount of difference when it comes to battery life. In terms of wireless connectivity, both devices feature an 802.11 n adapter but where the Lumia 625 immediately exceeds its larger smartphone counterpart is possessing LTE connectivity, whereas the Lumia 535 is only limited to 3.5 G connectivity speeds. 

Currently, the Lumia 535's off-contract price stands at $175, while the Lumia 625 offeris a slightly more expensive package at $199.