Leaks and rumors pointing to Nokia’s return to the smartphone game have been gaining traction recently and the latest to join the fray comes from a very reputable source.
A senior Microsoft executive has confirmed the fact that Nokia is about to make a comeback and has set the timeline for launching its first smartphones in years around the second quarter of 2017.
“HMD Global (owner of Nokia’s commercial rights for 10 years) planned to launch two new phone products in Q4 2016 and at least two smartphones in early Q2 2017,” Microsoft’s Mobile Device Commodities CEO, Asia-Pacific, James Rutherford was quoted in a Vietnamese publication.
Constant barrage of leaks and rumors
Facts and evidence pointing to Nokia’s comeback are steadily increasing. Last week, Nokia announced via Twitter that its CEO Rajiv Suri will be a speaker at MWC 2017.
Additionally, there has been a flurry of leaks and rumors pointing to Nokia returning to the smartphone scene with 2 flagship devices and 1 tablet.
Earlier this month, a device by the name of the Nokia D1C was spotted online with mid-range specs such as a 64-bit Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 octa-core processor, 3GB of RAM, 32GB of internal storage, a fullHD display ( screen size uncertain) and the Adreno 505 GPU.
A listing on GFX Bench later confirmed that the leaked device is not actually a smartphone but a tablet as it has a screen size of 13.8 inches.
Tying that with the other rumors pointing to two flagship handsets with the Snapdragon 820 SoC, we have a good range of Nokia Android products to look forward to.
Will Nokia be able to challenge Apple/Samsung?
Nokia’s fall from grace was brutal and harsh. Once the world’s largest cell phone maker, its fate was sealed after its decision in 2011 to partner with Microsoft’s Windows Phone and Android.
All this is old news now. It’s 2016. And it looks like Nokia has finally embraced Android.
Will Nokia be able to make a difference in today’s smartphone market? Will it be able to challenge the big ones, Apple and Samsung? Sound off in the comments!