The smartphones are expected to hit shelves in early October

Aug 23, 2012 13:55 GMT  ·  By

There have been lots of rumors these weeks on the upcoming Windows Phone 8 devices, which are expected to hit shelves in Q4.

Nokia and Samsung will be among the companies that will offer WP8-based devices, though the Finnish company will be the first to launch its smartphones.

According to the latest hearsay, Nokia plans to announce one or more Windows Phone 8 handsets in early September.

Microsoft and Nokia confirmed a launch event on September 5 in New York, where the companies are expected to reveal the first Windows Phone 8 devices.

Samsung on the other hand is said to launch its Odyssey and Marco smartphones in Q4 as well, though we don’t have other details on their release dates.

Several Nokia prototypes running Windows Phone 8 OS have been leaked online within the past few weeks. Rumors on Nokia Phi and another mid-range smartphone made headlines earlier this month.

Although we don’t have any confirmations from Nokia, it appears that the folks over at The Verge have been able to confirm that the Finnish handset maker plans to announce two Windows Phone 8 handsets on September 5.

Dubbed Nokia Phi and Nokia Arrow, both smartphones will be launched in the United States via AT&T, though at least the latter will also be available through other carriers as well.

Phi and Arrow are just codenames, so expect these two upcoming Windows Phone 8 handsets to be named according to Lumia series.

Nokia Phi will be the high-end smartphone that will be exclusively available via AT&T, while the Arrow is a mid-range smartphone, which is rumored to hit shelves at T-Mobile USA, AT&T and Verizon Wireless.

We don’t have any other details on the phones’ specs sheet or design, but we expect more info will surface as we get closer to Nokia’s launch event. Stay tuned for more updates on the matter.