[5][6] Until its discontinuation in the United States on 7 April 2015 the phone served as the flagship device for Nokia's Lumia Series and Microsoft's mobile effort.

The device was powered by a 2.2 GHz quad-core MSM8974 Snapdragon 800 system-on-chip with an ARM-based Krait 400 CPU produced by American semiconductor manufacturer Qualcomm.

International units were available in black, white, red and yellow with a native storage capacity of 32 GB, expandable through a MicroSD card slot that can support up to 2 TB.

Germany also saw a green version with 32 GB storage and bundled apps from Deutsche Bahn, CEWE photo services, Zinio, Max Dome and N-TV.

The phone had a large non-removable 3400 mAh Li-Ion battery (BV-4BW), which gave it slightly longer endurance compared to its contemporaries from Android and iOS.

[3] Owing to its large dimensions and flagship specifications, the phone was viewed as a direct competitor to the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 and HTC One Max.

[7] The Lumia 1520 was initially released in Singapore, Hong Kong, the United States, France, China, Germany, Finland, Pakistan and India.

[16] Tom Warren from The Verge has praised the phone for its display, speed and camera, but noted the lack of stylus support and its size makes it difficult to use one handed.