The photo is believed to have emerged as a consequence of Microsoft’s recent layoffs in its smartphone business. Over the past few months, thousands of people have lost their jobs, primarily those working in the old Nokia devices division in Finland. As employees leave, they are slowly leaking photos of their old projects to the Internet.
Nokia Power User reports the photo appeared on Baidu over the weekend. Leaked by a well-known Nokia fan and tipster, a number of different devices can be seen. Some are known and released but three stand out as unidentified.
Notably, the green device in the left of the image is the cancelled-but-anticipated Nokia Lumia 2020 tablet, expected to launch in 2014. The 8.3-inch device had a 1080p IPS display, mobile data via a nano-SIM slot and support for stylus input. It would have run Windows RT, the unpopular Windows 8 version built for ARM processors.
Incapable of running classic Windows desktop apps but visually identical to Windows 8, Windows RT confused consumers and gradually dropped away entirely. By mid-2014, Microsoft had stopped promoting it entirely, instead advising tablet manufacturers use Intel processors and the full version of Windows 8.1. The Lumia 2020 would have been one of very few devices to use Windows RT, notable others being the original Surface and the 10-inch Nokia Lumia 2520.
Another cancelled device visible in the photo is the Lumia 650 XL. Branded as a Microsoft product, the 650 XL is essentially a larger version of the Lumia 650, launched earlier this year. The business-focused budget phone runs Windows 10 Mobile. With a specific audience in mind, Microsoft decided it didn’t need two versions of the same handset, dropping the XL model to simplify its line-up.
The yellow phone in the right of the photo, beneath the Lumia 1020 on the tripod, is believed to be a prototype of the Nokia XL 2. This device would have been the successor to the Nokia X, the company’s Android handset. It ran a very heavily skinned version of Android as an alternative to Nokia’s Windows Phone Lumias.
The rest of the phones in the photo are a mixture of known and unknown devices, some unidentified. The yellow phablet in the centre of the shot is the Lumia 1520, launched in 2013. Visible in the bottom left is an orange Lumia 930 next to a white Lumia 830, both launched in 2014. The blue phone in the bottom left appears to be the Lumia 910, a Windows Phone 7 device from 2012.
Microsoft cancelled many unreleased Nokia devices when it acquired the company’s consumer arm in 2014. With Windows unable to obtain market share and new device launches failing to make an impact, none of the development phones pictured were likely to transform Microsoft’s outlook. Producing them could have incurred losses.
Last week, full details on one of Nokia’s most famous cancelled projects, the “3D Touch” capable McLaren, were revealed, unveiling a phone that could have been Microsoft’s Windows Phone flagship. As with the other handsets, its niche appeal and the flagging Windows Phone ecosystem prevented it from ever launching though, becoming one of many Lumias never to see the light of day.
There’s likely to be many others that are still completely unknown. Nokia may have been struggling to sell handsets but it clearly had no trouble in devising new ones. Microsoft wasn’t interested though, cancelling all but the most promising projects after it completed its acquisition.
