Despite confirmation from Stephen Elop that the Nokia Smartphone branding is on borrowed time, a leaked image of the upcoming Lumia 830 suggests Microsoft hasn’t yet retired the brand name.
An apparent image leak of the new Nokia Lumia 830 has made its way onto the web, unofficially conforming that the first post-takeover Lumia will not carry Microsoft branding. Ever since Redmond took the helm at Nokia for a price of well-over $7 billion, debate has raged as to whether Microsoft would or should add its own branding to future Nokia Smartphones.
If the newest leak is anything to go by, it doesn’t look like this will be happening.
A total of three new Nokia Lumia phones are expected to launch over the coming months – all of which will as usual run on Microsoft’s Windows Phone 8.1 mobile OS. Along with an entry-level Lumia going by the name of ‘Rock’ and a mid-range 4.7-inch Lumia ‘Superman’, a range-topped being called the McLaren Windows Phone also keeps poking its nose out of the bag.
The main party-piece of the McLaren is said to be its unique 3D interface and touch-less gesture control, which could see it go some way to dousing the Amazon Fire Phone’s barbecue.
As for this particular image leak, the source behind the image claims that it is the unannounced Nokia Lumia 830, which will soon step in to take over from the popular 820. Chinese media sources were first to share the images, which depict a very similar overall design to that of the 820 in the same aluminum and polycarbonate steel. Little else is give away at all by the images, other than the fact that the cutout for the camera makes it clear there won’t be a 41-megapixel shooter added to the mix, as features on the Lumia 1020.
As for the branding, Stephen Elop made it clear around the time of the Microsoft buyout that Nokia’s days were numbered.
“The Nokia brand is available to Microsoft to use for its mobile phone products for a period of time, but Nokia as a brand will not be used for long going forward for smartphones,” he said.
“Work is underway to select the go forward smartphone brand.”
This prompted furious speculation that the Microsoft or perhaps the firm’s Surface branding would feature on all future Lumia Smartphones, though now it’s anyone’s guess as to when and what Redmond has in store for Nokia fans.