Nokia said it will launch a new Lumia smartphone later this quarter which “is anticipated to have hero status with a leading US operator”, marking the “beginning of a season of new product introductions”.

The company is believed to be set to launch a flagship device for US number one operator Verizon Wireless, likely to be called Lumia 928, which could be unveiled as early as this week. It would be an updated version of the existing Lumia 920, with a different screen construction – although size and resolution will remain the same.

Other suggested devices include Nokia’s first phablet device, although it has previously been suggested that the current version of Windows Phone does not support large enough screen resolutions to enable a large display. It would have a 5-inch display, placing it at the lower end of the category.

The company is apparently also readying aluminium bodied devices, rather than the polycarbonate used in its current smartphones.

And the long-anticipated Lumia device with a 40 megapixel PureView camera was also again mooted, bringing technology previously seen in the vendor’s Symbian OS-powered 808 to the Microsoft-powered line.

Despite Nokia’s focus on the US market in recent months, there have been few signs that it is successfully generating traction in this market.

For example, in its most recent results release, the company said that it had seen Lumia volumes increase sequentially in all regions “except North America”.

In total, only 0.4 million devices were sold by the vendor in this market, down from 0.7 million in the prior sequential quarter, making it by far Nokia’s smallest region.

In the company’s conference call, Stephen Elop, its CEO, noted that “in the United States, securing what operators call hero status or the top spot at the point of sale is critically important, because it attracts premium subsidies and additional marketing investment”.

However, with the iPhone selling exceptionally strongly in this market, and competition from Android device makers as well as the reinvigorated BlackBerry, Nokia is facing an uphill struggle in what has consistently been its poorest performing territories.