One of the biggest questions that remains after yesterday’s announcement of the Lumia 820 and Lumia 920 is that of how much the new Windows Phone 8 handsets will cost when they finally go on sale later this year. But ahead of those devices making it to stores, Nokia needs to work on shifting its existing inventory of current-generation handsets.

Reuters reports that Nokia has cut the price of the Lumia 800 by 15% this week, with smaller price reductions being made on its other Lumia models, the entry-level 610, mid-range 710 and flagship 900. Reuters says that the information of the price drops comes from “two industry sources”, and Nokia apparently did not deny the claims when approached for comment.

A Nokia spokesperson said: “Our pricing has been business as usual, reflecting typical product life cycle changes.” Indeed, it’s fairly ordinary for prices of outgoing models of any gadget or device to drop before newer versions are brought in.

While the price reductions will make the Lumia handsets a more tempting proposition, it's worth bearing in mind that none of the models currently available will be eligible for upgrade to Windows Phone 8; existing handsets will instead receive the Windows Phone 7.8 update, about which little is currently known, beyond the confirmation that it will include the new look WP8 Start Screen.

Quite how much inventory Nokia needs to shift remains unclear. Infamous blogger and Nokia-basher Eldar Murtazin claimed yesterday that the company would have to “write off around 1 million units”, although he stopped short of citing any corroborating evidence or sources to support the assertion that Nokia would have to write down such a large amount of inventory.

Nokia have a huge inventory for all Lumia phones (800&900).After today price will go down. But they have to write off around 1 million units — Eldar Murtazin (@eldarmurtazin) September 5, 2012

In addition to the devices announced yesterday, Nokia is expected to launch a third Windows Phone 8 handset - known by its development codename, Zeal - early next year, which is said to be 'Zune-like' in its design. Before then, it's believed that the company will announce a replacement for the Lumia 610 - codename Glory - although this is believed to be a Windows Phone 7.8 device.

Source: Reuters