What happened to the HTC 'Zenith' and Samsung 'Marco' Windows Phone 8 devices?

October 14, 2012 at 09:47 GMT | By Darlington Moyo

With all the Windows Phone 8 launch OEMs having unveiled the devices they are bringing to the market for the refreshed operating system launch, it's left us wondering about the whereabouts of some of the rumoured devices. While the devices were nothing more than "rumoured," we are pretty certain they exist or existed in some form at some point in time.

If you can recall, Nokia were initially rumoured to be launching two Windows Phone 8 devices in the Lumia 910 and 920. While the rumour was slightly off, Nokia did indeed launch two devices. Samsung were also supposed to be bringing two devices; the flagship "Odyssey" and the mid-range "Marco." The Odyssey turned out to be the Samsung ATIV S, while the Marco magically vanished. HTC were thought to be preparing three devices; the entry-level "Rio," the mid-range "Accord" and the flagship "Zenith." The Rio became the HTC 8S, while the Accord became the HTC 8X. Things on the Zenith front went a bit quiet. So what happened to the Zenith and the Marco?

The HTC Zenith
HTC CEO Peter Chou declared at the official unveiling of their Windows Phone 8 devices that they will from now on be concentrating on bringing "hero" phones to the market. For whatever reason, they dubbed their devices "Signature Windows Phones" and called them Windows Phone 8X and Windows Phone 8s by HTC - seemingly disputing Nokia's claim that they made the "real" Windows Phones. Don't get me wrong, the 8X is a nice device but the meagre 16 GB storage (without microSD expansion option) and the 4.3 inch display don't exactly scream high-end when stood next to the ATIV S and Nokia Lumia 920.

So, there must be a better HTC Windows Phone 8 device out there, right? Well, it's not that straight forward. HTC's way of naming devices means that the "X" tends to be the flagship, so the 8X pretty much has to be the best they have to offer at this point. That doesn't mean aren't working on a bigger and better device though, they obviously are. The Zenith was rumoured to feature an unnamed quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon which brings up the issue that Windows Phone 8 has been optimised of dual-core processors at this point in time, so it's unlikely that we will see a quad-core device before Microsoft updates Windows Phone 8. The Zenith probably does exist but we think it's still in development.

The Samsung Marco
I doubt that a lot people would be disappointed that the mid-range Samsung Windows Phone 8 device hasn't been unveiled, but the Marco would have had a few takers. Featuring a 4-inch S-AMOLED display with WVGA resolution, 5MP main camera, 2MP front-facing camera, Qualcomm's MSM8960 1.5GHz dual-core processor and LTE, the Marco would be a solid mid-range device that offers an option for those that don't want huge displays. We know this device exists/existed because it was confirmed in court documents submitted by Samsung in their patent case against Apple. Whether the device was scrapped or is still in development remains to be seen. Don't be surprise if it's randomly launched at some point as Samsung has a history of doing such [Omnia M and Focus Flash anyone?].

The bottom line
It would have been ideal to have both devices alongside the already announced for the sake of choice. The HTC "Zenith" especially would have given the Nokia Lumia 920 and the Samsung ATIV S are run for their money. Also the Samsung "Marco" would have been a solid option to the ATIV S, given that it would have come in cheaper than it's bigger sibling.

At the end of the day, the current Windows Phone 8 line-up is solid and will offer prospective buyers a healthy choice but more is always better. What do you think? Let us know in the comments below.

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About the Author

Darlington M. Moyo

Darlington is a self-confessed smartphone junkie. Some are convinced he has a Microsoft tatoo hidden somewhere on his body. When he is not writing about Windows Phone, he is reading about it. Current device » Nokia Lumia 920. Xbox Gamertag » MthOmnia - Add me