Nokia is planning to update their line of Lumia Windows Phone devices for 2013 and at least one of them will be built around an aluminum shell. The new phone, codenamed Catwalk, is expected to be much lighter and thinner than current offerings thanks to the new building material, according to sources familiar with Nokia's plans as first reported by The Verge.

If you recall, the Finnish handset maker went with a polycarbonate body for the current generation Lumia phones. We are hearing that the Catwalk phone will be a direct replacement to the Lumia 920 and will ship with similar internal hardware specifications. If that is the case, we can probably expect to see a unit with a 4.5-inch display, a dual-core processor, PureView camera technology and 4G LTE connectivity.

The weight reduction will allow Nokia to compete with other lightweight handsets like the iPhone 5. This simply wasn't possible with the existing polycarbonate shells. It's worth pointing out, however, that this won't be the first time that Nokia has used aluminum as a building material. The company found a good bit of success with the N8 and E7 handsets just a few years ago.

The publication says Nokia is preparing two other Lumia handsets as well but these will be part of an entirely new lineup later this year - not direct replacements for existing products. It's unclear at this hour exactly when we can expect to see new Lumia devices or how much they will sell for.