Microsoft is supposably not interested in high-end Windows Phones—after acquiring Nokia the first order of business was to scrap all high-end ideas and focus on budget handsets for South-East Asia and Europe.
However, it goes against new leaks showing a rather high-end handset, sporting the familiar Lumia design. Codenamed McLaren, the phone is set to sport a massive rear sensor, similar to the Lumia 1020.
Rumors of the past few weeks claim the McLaren project has been cancelled, but with new prototype images appearing, it looks like the smartphone is still in the works.
The commercial name would be the Lumia 1030, a small step up from the Lumia 1020. Nokia’s number system is odd for smartphones, with the Lumia 970 coming out after the 1020 and 1520—making hardly any sense.
The Lumia 1030 should feature a 5-inch full HD display and quad-core processor. In the U.S., this could be the Windows Phone flagship Microsoft needs, now the Lumia 1020 is over a year old and the Lumia 1520 has never been that popular in the West.
Windows Phone has started to lose popularity—even though it did not have much to begin with. The lack of core apps still plagues Windows Phone, alongside app developers taking considerably longer to update their apps.
New apps like Snapchat, Tinder and Yik Yak aren’t coming to the OS any time soon. Microsoft has said they will merge Windows 10 into the smartphone OS, potentially giving the smartphone much more apps.
The most popular regions for Windows Phone are South-East Asia, Italy and the UK. The U.S. and China have both not passed 1 percent adoption of Windows Phone, firmly in the grasp of iOS and Android.
