Microsoft has apparently made the surprising decision to bin the Nokia brand for its mobile products, especially its smartphones, following its $7.5 billion acquisition of the famed Finnish phone maker.

The rumor – and that’s all it is at present – stems from leaked internal documents obtained by the prolific mobile leaker evleaks, which appear to lay out Microsoft’s mobile branding strategy. Interestingly, although Microsoft has a deal that allows it to use Nokia’s branding on Lumia smartphones for 18 months after the close of the takeover deal, its likely Microsoft will change tack before this deadline, especially on new products.

“Microsoft brand will only replace the Nokia brand in product, applications and experiences when Microsoft has launched a new product into the market,” state the documents.

Those who’ve been following Microsoft’s Nokia takeover closely probably won’t be all that surprised, as there have been plenty of hints about this strategy shift in recent months. Indeed, Stephen Elop, the ex-CEO of Nokia and now the executive vice president of Microsoft’s Devices Group, said after the deal closed in April that Microsoft was unlikely to use the Nokia branding for long.

“Microsoft Mobile Oy is a legal construct that was created to facilitate the merger,” Elop said on Nokia’s website in a live Q&Q session on the acquisition. “It is not a brand that will be seen by consumers. The Nokia brand is available to Microsoft to use for its mobile phones products for a period of time, but Nokia as a brand will not be used for long going forward for smartphones. Work is underway to select the go forward smartphone brand.”

The leaked documents state that Nokia’s Lumia, Asha and Nokia X brands, as well as its feature phones, will still receive “full support” from Microsoft regardless of the branding change. In addition, Microsoft remains committed to working with Nokia’s advertising partners, and media commitments remain unchanged. They also state that Microsoft is planning “how, when and where to introduce the Microsoft brand [to Nokia retail stores] over a significant period of time.” The company also wants to introduce its own branding to Nokia’s care centers.

Leaked memo courtesy of @evleaks

Microsoft still hasn’t come up with its own branded smartphone, although it’s built up an impressive roster of Windows Phone partners, which include Nokia, Samsung, Huawei, Lenovo, ZTE and several other low cost smartphone makers. Earlier this year, Microsoft did away with licensing fees for its Windows Phone OS for devices with screens smaller than nine inches – a strategy that should make Windows Phone more appealing to OEMs and ODMs, especially in the Chinese and Indian markets.

Microsoft sees such markets as a key battleground in its efforts to gain more market share for Windows Phone. That’s why it’s been encouraging companies like Canvas, which has just launched the Canvas Win W121 and Canvas Win W092 running Windows Phone 8.1 in India. Canvas built its phones through the Windows Hardware Partner Portal and Qualcomm Reference Design program, which was set up to assist phone makers in building low-end Windows Phones.

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