Microsoft is preparing to drop the Nokia brand name from its Lumia smartphone range.
The news was first picked up on Nokia France’s Facebook page, which said that the Nokia name will be ousted "in the coming days".
Microsoft bought Nokia in September 2013, with the deal closing in April this year. In the terms of the deal, Nokia’s handset business was acquired but not the Nokia brand name.
Since then, Microsoft has continued to churn out handsets that feature the Nokia Lumia branding, but from now on, the phones will be called ‘Microsoft Lumia’.
Meanwhile, Nokia beat analyst expectations on Thursday with healthy Q3 profit growth, with network infrastructure deployments in China and North America painting a positive outlook for its networks, mapping and technology licensing arm.
Nokia Networks reported a 13% growth in net sales to €2.94bn.
