Microsoft Teases One More iPhone Alternative

The amount of days Microsoft has left to release a Lumia Windows Phone that can rival the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus is dwindling and it looks like the company is acutely aware of that. Just hours before AT&T was set to start selling Microsoft’s Lumia 830 Windows Phone, Microsoft teased another coming iPhone alternative running its Windows Phone operating system.

Microsoft teased a new Lumia Windows Phone on its website early this morning on its Nokia Conversations blog.

“Microsoft is delivering the power of everyday mobile technology to everyone,” text about the coming iPhone alternative reads. There’s a picture above that text with a Lumia Windows Phone in it. The only thing you can see in the picture is a front-facing camera and an orange polycarbonate shell. The posting ends with an invitation for readers to comeback on November 11 for more details about the upcoming device.

Every once in a while Nokia — now Microsoft Mobile — has managed to release a Windows Phone without its pictures and specifications being completely leaked. Microsoft seems to have pulled that off here, because we know absolutely nothing about this new Lumia Windows Phone coming on November 11th.

What we can gather from the photo and the strategy that Microsoft has used this fall is that this new Lumia won’t be in the high-end space. That is to say, it is probably a mid-range device. That it has a colored polycarbonate shell that looks like it comes off indicates that it’s it’ll most likely sit underneath the Lumia 830. High end Lumia Windows Phones have metal bands for sides instead of polycarbonate plastic, usually.

Wherever this new Lumia Windows Phone fits into Microsoft’s strategy, it’s pretty apparent that it’s arriving at a strange time for the company. This device will be the first to go to out to stores under the Microsoft Lumia brand. Microsoft completed its purchase of Nokia earlier this year, but it’s just wrapping up its transition.

The Nokia we knew would have had a flagship ready for the holiday season for first time Windows Phone buyers and as an iPhone 6 alternative. Microsoft Mobile has deviated from that though. The company enters this holiday season with no high-end Lumia smartphones available on any carrier in the United States. The Lumia 830 that AT&T began selling today, has high-end build quality and a 10 megapixel camera. It’s also saddled with a pretty old processor. It’s an iPhone alternative, but it’s meant for those with pretty average needs.

Read: Nokia Lumia 830 – First Impressions

To be fair, there is an iPhone alternative running Apple’s software that’s expected to make it to most carriers. It’s not made by Microsoft Mobile though. That device is the HTC M8 for Windows. It’s a simply a renamed HTC M8 running Windows Phone instead of Android.

Read: T-Mobile HTC One M8 for Windows Release Confirmed

That HTC didn’t go design a device from scratch is great because the HTC M8 for Windows includes a speedy modern processor, plenty of storage with the option to add more, a gorgeous display and a few new tricks like it’s Dot View case. On board, HTC included Windows Phone versions of many of its most popular apps like the BlinkFeed social network and news reader. There’s even an infrared port of the top of the HTC One M8 for Windows that lets buyers change the channel on their television sets.

The HTC One M8 for Windows is already available for customers on Verizon’s wireless network. Both AT&T and T-Mobile have confirmed that they’ll have the iPhone alternative on their network sometime before the holiday season officially kicks off.

When we might see the Lumia Windows Phone Microsoft is set to reveal on November 11 in stores is unknown. That being said, it’d have to be available pretty soon to beat the holiday rush.