The rise of the 6 month flagship as the Nokia Lumia 920 hits clearance prices

If you always wanted to pick up a Nokia Lumia 920 you can now grab one for pretty cheap. SimplyElectronics is selling the handset for only £323.95/€419.95.  EE in UK is selling the device for even cheaper at £249 on PAYGo with a £10 top-up.

Of course, with a new generation of flagships, if you are after the latest and greatest Windows Phone, why would you pick up this handset? And with that I am noticing a pattern:

The Nokia Lumia 800 was introduced in November 2011, and was top dog until the Nokia Lumia 900 was released in April 2012, and of course that handset reigned supreme until the introduction of the Nokia Lumia 920 in November 2012, and now half a year later, we have a new flagship, the Nokia Lumia 925, to launch in June 2013.

Each device appears to have only around 6 months in market, with the Nokia Lumia 800 ironically lasting the longest, still being on sale in some areas.

This strategy of rapid replacement is not practiced by companies like Apple and Samsung, who would release other lines e.g. the Note series, but would otherwise keep release on an annual cycle.

On the other hand they do not have Nokia’s need to keep excitement around the product line high (something which might convince Apple to start releasing more regularly soon) but I think the benefit is debatable – accelerating the already hectic device upgrade cycle from a year to 6 months are going to leave many disgruntled.

What do our readers think of this very clear strategy? Let us know below.

Thanks Timmy for the tip.