New photos emerge of cancelled Nokia McLaren Windows Phone, compared to iPhone 6

Earlier today Windows Central reported on the forthcoming Mixview for Live Tiles in Windows 10. In the article, the cancelled McLaren prototype Windows Phone was brought up in referencing the original Mixview design. Now, new photos of the lost McLaren prototype have come forth, appearing once again out of China.

Previously, it was thought that the photos revealed a possible Lumia 1020 successor, however, newer evidence has come forth to shoot down that assumption.

The big question remains though whether or not the device seen in this recent batch of photos is new or just a leftover prototype finally emerging. McLaren was cancelled in late June or early July of this year when the device was entering final stages of development. Although the 3D Touch navigation system was reportedly not ready for release, it is not clear if Microsoft will continue to work on the hardware sans 3D gestures.

McLaren was reportedly a 5 or 5.2-inch Windows Phone with a 20 MP rear Pure View camera. The rest of the hardware specifications are still a bit of a mystery, although it is evident from the photos that it has a smooth, thin, metallic body with edge to edge glass for the display. Additionally, a micro SD card slot can be seen as well, confirming that this device had expandable memory as well as on-screen keys.

In the new collection of photos, we can see the McLaren compared to the iPhone 6 with the Windows Phone holding its own in terms of looks.

Hopefully, more information will come forward on this phone, especially whether we are looking at the past or the Windows Phone future. For now, you can check out many more of the photos over at CNBeta, who are hosting all the images.

Source: Baidu; via CNBeta; Thanks, hengxiang32401, for the tip!

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.