Alleged first photo of prototype Nokia Lumia 950 revealed

We have a fairly strict policy here at Windows Phone Central when it comes to rumors (believe it or not). For the ones we stand behind or sound confident in, it’s because we know the source and can vouch for their access. Other times though, we can’t and we won’t. This is the latter case, so be forewarned.

This image above of an alleged Nokia Lumia 950 prototype landed in our email box a little while ago and included some interesting details about the supposed forthcoming device.

From our initial assessment, the phone itself looks legitimate but there are some questionable discrepancies like the Windows Phone logo/button area (more on that below), odd aliasing that's either a sign of compositing or over sharpening. And as iMore’s Rene Ritchie told us, this could be a 3D model photographed from a screen (which are notoriously hard to prove false).

Indeed, without varying angles from multiple photos, it’s hard to prove (or disprove) a digital image is authentic. Because of that, we have to cast doubt.

RUM: 5

Alleged details of the Lumia 950

The phone we’re told is called the Lumia 950 to harken back to Nokia’s N95 days—part of a nostalgia/”getting back to roots” campaign that is planned. So far, it has only been seen in black though when it comes to production we’re sure that will change.

Resolution, we’re told, is 1280x768 and there is no planned 1080P support for Windows Phone 8 in the immediate future. Our tipster notes that this is actually a good thing as the main thrust of this device is battery life, something that is backed up the usage of an AMOLED variant of the PureMotion HD panel found in the Lumia 920.

We recently saw Nokia make some advances in battery saving, specifically in the Asha 3310 revealed at Mobile World Congress. That feature phone has a standby time of 30 days, which is quite remarkable. In that sense, it makes sense that Nokia would expand that technology to its Lumia line, though that does not guarantee its truth of this device.

The camera won’t feature a 41MP sensor but it will be larger than current devices, delivering “lossless zoom”, oversampling, low-light performance and video stabilization with a Xenon flash.

It will also have 2GB of RAM and some other internals that will help “future proof” it for some time.

True or not?

It’s always hard for us tell the accuracy on these stories as we don’t have someone at Nokia that we can just call and verify (they’ll remain mum).

Indeed, the photo if fake looks quite real except for the Windows Phone Logo. But then again that is clearly a sticker, which is something we’ve seen in the past with pre-Lumia 800 prototypes. So if anything it lends a bit of credence to the image, not disproves it.

The details and specifications are evolutionary and not revolutionary (as far as we know) and that makes believing the story a lot easier than if we mentioned “holograms” or something. That of course does not guarantee its authenticity, but it is certainly a bit more likely.

We’re sure to learn more in the coming weeks as to whether or not this is accurate. For now, we caution as to its authenticity and we're giving it a "5" on our Rum'o'meter though if a few more images comes forth, we'll be sure to bump that up.

Daniel Rubino
Editor-in-chief

Daniel Rubino is the Editor-in-chief of Windows Central. He is also the head reviewer, podcast co-host, and analyst. He has been covering Microsoft since 2007, when this site was called WMExperts (and later Windows Phone Central). His interests include Windows, laptops, next-gen computing, and watches. He has been reviewing laptops since 2015 and is particularly fond of 2-in-1 convertibles, ARM processors, new form factors, and thin-and-light PCs. Before all this tech stuff, he worked on a Ph.D. in linguistics, watched people sleep (for medical purposes!), and ran the projectors at movie theaters because it was fun.