Nokia’s Verizon-Bound Lumia 928 Spotted In Leaked Images Ahead Of Launch

It’s been a long time coming, but Verizon Wireless customers should soon have another high-end Windows Phone 8 device to lust after. After the handset was spotted both in both the FCC’s and Verizon’s systems, noted leaker @evleaks has come through yet again with a new image of the upcoming Nokia Lumia 928 (formerly known as the “Laser”).

There’s not a whole lot to be gleaned from the image save for the fact that the device seems to have done away with the rounded sides and flat top and bottom edges of its immediate predecessor the Lumia 920. As it turns out, one of the neatest potential features noted in early reports is nowhere to be found here — according to The Verge, the Lumia 928 will sport a more traditional polycarbonate body instead of the aluminum chassis that was originally slated for the device way back when. Most of the 928’s internals (think the 1.5GHz dual-core Qualcomm MSM8960 processor, 1GB of RAM, and 32GB of internal storage) are expected to remain the same as its cousin the 920, but Nokia may run with an OLED panel this time around rather than the IPS LCD as seen in the 920.

In short, it’s hard not to think of the Lumia 928 as what the Lumia 920 should’ve been when it launched.

According to recent figures from Kantar Worldpanel, Windows Phone has managed to pull away from BlackBerry in terms of mobile OS market share, and devices like the 928 should help Microsoft’s mobile efforts pick up a little more steam in the coming weeks. Meanwhile, Nokia has been working to make its Windows Phones the most feature-rich out there with exclusivity agreements with companies like Zinio, so it’s clear that some developers are starting to see the benefits of embracing the prospect of developing for the Windows Phone platform.

That said, WP’s third place position isn’t completely safe at this point — BlackBerry posted some promising quarterly financials and if recent leaks are to be believed, a low-cost BlackBerry 10 device with a QWERTY keyboard could see the light very soon. Z10 shipments point to reasonably healthy demand, and an affordable device launched in key markets could be just what the doctor ordered for BlackBerry.