Last year, when we reviewed Microsoft’s low-end Lumia 435, we described it as “the MINI Cooper of phones,” saying that it provided good quality for the money and was one of the best choices for those who weren’t necessarily looking for high processing power and DSLR-like photo quality.
But it turns out that the Lumia 435 could have been even cooler, with a new leak showing that Microsoft actually planned a different version at first but ended up releasing the one we can all buy today.
WBI has come across some photos published on Chinese forum Weibo that reveal a prototype of the Lumia 435, which looks a little bit more like the Lumia 930, the Windows Phone flagship model that was so appreciated by users in the community.
As you can see for yourselves in the photo gallery, this prototype boasted the traditional Lumia look but adopted design cues from the Lumia 930, instead of the bulky appearance that the final model comes with. And what’s more, it even included features that aren’t available on the final version of the Lumia 435, among which a rear flash that could have helped shoot better pictures.
Full focus on flagships now
There’s no information as to why Microsoft decided to give up on this prototype, which is kind of odd, given the fact that, at first look, the phone looks a lot sexier and perfectly aligns with the other phones in the Lumia lineup.
On the other hand, Microsoft seems to be trying a different strategy now and focuses exclusively on flagship devices, with people close to the matter indicating that the company is likely to launch a Surface Phone in spring 2017.
All low-end and mid-range models running Windows 10 Mobile will be developed by the other companies in the ecosystem, but it remains to be seen how many of them are actually willing to embrace an operating system that’s losing ground especially because of Microsoft’s weird strategy for the platform and the whole secrecy regarding future plans.
