Nokia to Produce Lumia 900 and New Windows Phones In-House

Finnish mobile phone maker Nokia is expected to produce new Windows Phone devices in-house, although it chose to outsource the production of Lumia 800 and 710 handsets to Compal Communications.

It would all start with the upcoming high-end Lumia 900 smartphone, sources familiar with the matter told DigiTimes.

However, it appears that there will also be a series of lower-end models coming from Nokia, and that they will be manufactured by Taiwan-based handset ODMs.

Even so, there will be a significant shift in orders, the news site claims. ASPs of local handset makers will be affected, it seems.

Compal Communications has seen its ASP go up to US$240 during the fourth quarter of the last year, mainly courtesy of the production of Nokia's Lumia 800 and Lumia 710 smartphones. In the previous quarter, the company's ASP was half of that.

During the second quarter of the year, Nokia is expected to bring to the market smartphones running under Microsoft's Windows Phone Tango operating system.

Nokia is rumored to plan on unveiling Lumia 900 next week at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

Lumia 900 is expected to arrive on shelves in the United States via AT&T. It is said to pack LTE connectivity capabilities when made available in the country.

The handset will be launched in other markets around the world as well, without the said connectivity options inside. The international model is reportedly featuring the codename of Nokia Ace.

The smartphone should hit shelves with a large 4.3-inch touchscreen display on board, as well as with an 8-megapixel photo snapper on the back. It is also expected to pack a fast application processor inside, as well as 16GB or more internal memory.

Lumia 900 will be released as the new flagship Windows Phone device from Nokia. Specific info on its hardware capabilities and availability should arrive next week at CES.