14 DAY TRIAL // Even though the Lumia 950 is Microsoft latest (and probably the last as well) flagship Windows phone that got to see daylight, the company was actually working on a successor internally, though for some reason it decided to pull the plug on it before the official launch.
Lumia 960, a refined version of the Lumia 950, was supposed to continue the Lumia series and keep Windows phones alive, but as we can see in these leaked photos, it wasn’t supposed to bring too many breaking changes to Microsoft’s mobile ecosystem.
In essence another device that adopts the Lumia design language, and clearly borrowing the most important design cues from the Lumia 950, the new Lumia 960 looks like a HTC model from some angles, especially on the back where the two white antenna lines are the first things that you notice.
Snapdragon 820 chip
Microsoft placed the camera in the center of the phone, with a big LED flash right next to it, leading to a cleaner design as compared to the Lumia 950. The device was expected to be equipped with a 20-megapixel camera and be powered by the latest in terms of hardware at that time, including Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 820 processor.
By the looks of things, the Lumia 960 no longer featured a removable battery, which could be an indication that Microsoft actually wanted to make the device waterproof, though this is just a guess and no confirmation exists whatsoever.
Since it was supposed to be the company's new flagship, the Lumia 960 was expected to be marketed as a rival to the other high-end devices on the market, including Samsung's S series and Apple's iPhone.
Unfortunately, Microsoft decided for some reason that the Lumia 960 is no longer worth launching, so now the whole world’s waiting to see whether the company still has any mobile hardware plans or not.
The next phone in Microsoft’s portfolio could be the Surface Phone, but the company has never confirmed such a device, other than providing a few hints that what it wants is build a so-called “ultimate mobile device.”
It remains to be seen if the Surface Phone is real or not, as sources claim that Microsoft was considering an early 2018 reveal.
