It could be some time before Nokia fully recovers from its protracted sales slump, but the Finnish manufacturer is certainly banking on the sales performance of the next generation of Lumia Windows Phones. These devices will be running on the new Windows Phone 8 platform, and a Bloomberg report says they may be announced shortly before the upcoming iPhone 5’s expected unveiling.

The report stated that the Nokia World event, which is scheduled early in September, could be the company’s big chance to officially unveil the new Lumia phones.

If these devices are announced at the upcoming expo, then that would give Nokia a one-week head start over the new iPhone. Several sources have cited September 12 as the most probable date for Apple’s iPhone 5 launch.

But there’s a little catch to all of this. While Nokia will probably be unveiling the Lumia phones shortly before the iPhone 5 is publicly revealed, it doesn’t seem likely that the phones will be out soon.

According to rumors, Apple will launch the iPhone 5 nine days after its special event, which is consistent with the Cupertino, CA firm’s history of releasing devices about a week or so after they are announced. It may be a few months before the Lumia handsets actually become available through online and offline retailers alike.

Given this scenario, the Windows Phone 8-powered Lumias might be ready for release sometime in November, at around the same time WP8 debuts. This could be a two-sided scenario for Nokia – on the plus side, this gives it time to promote the Windows Phone 8 devices as “heroes”, but it could possibly widen consumers’ options.

We’ll monitor the latest on the new Lumia phones and let you know once we hear something substantial.