Nokia’s re-entry to smartphone segment was confirmed with HMD Global licensing the Nokia brand for mobile devices. The Finnish company also confirmed that the first Nokia-branded Android smartphone will make its way in the first half of 2017 and the launch will happen at MWC 2017.
Out of rumoured Nokia phones, the Nokia D1C has been the one that has garnered most interest and has been part of several leaks. A recent leak claimed that it will launch in two variants and will be priced at $150 (roughly Rs. 10,000) for the 2GB of RAM model and at $200 (roughly Rs. 13,500) for the 3GB of RAM model.
Based on preliminary leaks, the Nokia D1C is expected to be powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 processor clocked at 1.4GHz coupled with Adreno 505 GPU, and would come in 2GB and 3GB RAM variants. It is said to run on Android 7.0 Nougat and come in 5-inch and 5.5-inch full-HD display options. Both the variants are likely to come with 16GB inbuilt storage. On the camera front, the Nokia D1C variants are said to be available in 13-megapixel and 16-megapixel rear camera modules. Both the variants are expected to sport 8-megapixel camera at the front. The Nokia D1C in September was listed on Geekbench that revealed some under the hood innards.Apart from the Nokia D1C, the company is also rumoured to be working on an entry-level Nokia Android phone, named Pixel, which is said to run on Android 7.0.1 Nougat. According to a leaked Geekbench listing, it is likely to be powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 200 SoC coupled with 1GB of RAM. The CPU is a dual-core variant at a clock speed of 1.19GHz. The entry-level Pixel Nokia phone is also said to support Quick Charge 3.0 technology. Under the tests run by Geekbench, the Nokia Pixel scored 404 on the single-core test while it resulted with 661 on the multi-core test. It is likely the name of this entry-level Nokia Android smartphone will change before being commercially launched.
Apart from the rumoured Nokia D1C and Pixel, the Finland-based company is also expected to showcase a high-end Android smartphone at the MWC 2017. Based on preliminary leaks, the smartphone will feature a 5.2-inch or 5.5-inch screen size and sport 2K (QHD) display. It is said to be powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 SoC. One of the highlight features of the upcoming high-end Nokia Android phone is said to be the Zeiss lens for the primary camera, something that has been seen on earlier Nokia devices. The Nokia Android phone is also rumoured to come with waterproof capability alongside sporting a metal unibody design.
We can expect more details to be available as we come close to the MWC 2017 event that kicks off on February 27 in Barcelona.