Nokia is reportedly preparing new Lumia Windows Phone handsets for 2013, including a new thinner, lighter version of the flagship Lumia 920.
According to a report by The Verge, sources "familiar with Nokia's plans" have said the Finnish mobile phone maker will be switching to an aluminium design for the high-end Lumia handsets - the 920 and 820.
The current Lumia 920 and 820 handsets have polycarbonate bodies - something Nokia has previously touted as a key selling point. However, the flagship Lumia 920, weighing in at 185g and measuring 10.7mm thick, is significantly heftier than its major competitors such as the HTC Windows Phone 8X, iPhone 5 and Samsung Galaxy SIII. It is said the switch to an aluminium body will make the handset significantly lighter and slimmer.
The successor to the Lumia 920 is said to be codenamed 'Catwalk' and will feature similar hardware to its predecessor, with the changes expected to be predominantly aesthetic.
Design shift
The change to aluminium would counter Nokia's current design language around the use of polycarbonate and the emphasis on colour. With the release of the latest Nokia Lumia handsets, Nokia also posted a blog detailing the effort that went into the design, look and feel of the devices.
According to Nokia, polycarbonate was developed "as a result of a huge project over several years examining different types of plastic ingredients". Designer for Nokia, Nicola Ralston, is quoted as saying: "We chose polycarbonate because of the colour approach we wanted to take - the ingredients that make up polycarbonate allow us to get the best intensity of colour."
The Lumia 920 and 820 handsets debuted with the official launch of Windows 8 in October last year. While exact figures are still unclear, sales of the flagship handset are considered to be far behind the market-leading devices from Samsung and Apple.
Sales figures
In November last year, Nokia reported more than 2.5 million pre-orders for the Lumia 920 globally within three weeks of its availability. This figure exceeded the number of all Lumia handsets sold during the third quarter of 2012 worldwide. However, despite numerous reports of sell-out launches in countries such as Germany, Australia, Finland, China and the UK, analysts have attributed it to constrained supply rather than excessive demand.
Some analysts have claimed that initial reports on sales were overly optimistic, and Nokia is still struggling to gain significant market traction with its Lumia devices. Pacific Crest analyst, James Faucette, said in a research note in December: "Our sell-through checks in North America and Western Europe indicate sales volumes that are quite low, while initial shipment volumes are similarly low.
"We estimate that the company is tracking toward shipping roughly one million new Windows 8 products in the December quarter, while it looks likely to sell through roughly half of those units, based on current run rates.
"On a like-for-like basis (new 920 and 820 in 2012 versus 800 in 2011), we estimate that sales are similar or even slightly lower year-over-year," noted Faucette.
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