New Images Reveal Lumia 830 iPhone 6 Rival in Full

We’re not even two weeks away from Microsoft’s IFA 2014 Windows Phone event and already what the company has to show is getting leaked by the truckload. Last month, pictures of Microsoft’s Lumia 830 iPhone 6 rival appeared online, now a new collection of pictures taken by a Brazilian regulatory body are revealing almost everything users need to know about the device’s looks and features.

The pictures, which were posted by Neowin, have revealed the Lumia 830 in all of its glory. They depict a black device with the same rear-facing camera housing as what Microsoft showed off in its IFA 2014 teaser invitation. Besides the matching rear camera housing one screenshot also attributes the device to Microsoft Mobile, the company that Microsoft formed when it purchased Nokia’s phone making and services businesses earlier this year.

If the pictures are of the Lumia 830 than potential Windows Phone buyers are in for a treat this year. The device in these pictures features a removable rear shell. Instead of just letting users change the device’s color, behind that shell is a slot for a removable battery and a MicroSD card slot. Two prongs along one of the device’s edges also indicate that wireless charging will be built into the Lumia 830 when it arrives on store shelves.

Another picture in the series of photographs shows the back of the device and reveals its official model name the RM-985. In that picture you can also make out lettering on the camera hosing that could read PureView & Carl Zeiss. Those are the brand names for the imaging technology that Nokia used in its camera-centric Lumia 1020 flagship last year and in high-end smartphones ever since.

The phone’s headset jack and USB port are set along the top. So too is what appears to be a front-facing camera for video chatting and taking self-portraits. A power button, volume buttons and a camera shutter button sit on the right-edge of the device too.

The Lumia 830 is expected to be a next-generation Windows Phone in a couple of different ways. For starters, it’ll almost certainly run Windows Phone 8.1, the operating system update that adds the Cortana personal assistant, Miracast streaming media streaming support and more. One next-generation feature it apparently won’t be taking advantage of is Windows Phone’s on-screen buttons. The device in these photos still includes physical Back, Start and Search buttons. That is a bit strange considering Microsoft launched the Nokia Lumia 630 without hardware buttons just a few weeks ago.

A reveal date and launch window for Apple’s iPhone 6 remains elusive. That being said, the company has a long history of launching new devices in September, that’s around the same time Microsoft is scheduled to take the stage at IFA 2014. If Apple does launch a new iPhone around that time the Lumia 830 will go head to head for user’s wallets and spending money this holiday season.

The window is quickly closing for the holiday season. If Microsoft doesn’t announce a legitimate iPhone 6 competitor that’s made widely available the company could be looking at loosing smartphone mind share with consumers for another quarter. In recent weeks reports of slightly falling Windows Phone sales have picked up.

Read: The iPhone 6: 10 Fast Facts

In addition to not launching a high-profile update last fall, Microsoft hasn’t had much in the way of high-profile Windows Phone launches. The only flagship Windows Phones to launch in the United States this year have been the Lumia Icon and the HTC One M8 for Windows. The HTC One M8 for Windows only launched this past week and the Lumia Icon is completely exclusive to Verizon in the United States, one of the key areas Windows Phone needs to succeed in to gain market share.