Months of anticipation has finally ended as HMD Global announced the first Nokia smartphone, called the Nokia 6. The smartphone also marks the re-entry of the brand in the industry. The Nokia 6 is exclusive to China and has been priced at 1699 CNY (approximately Rs 16,750). It will be available for purchase in early 2017 through JD.com. It also marks the brand’s first device to come powered with Google’s Android OS.
The Nokia 6 boasts an aluminium uibody design and features a 5.5-inch in-cell full HD display with 2.5D Gorilla Glass on top. It is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 processor with X6 LTE modem and paired with 4GB of RAM and 64 GB on internal storage which can be further expanded via microSD card. The smartphone is powered by Android 7.0 Nougat.
In the photography segment, the Nokia 6 features a 16-megapixel rear camera with f/2.0 aperture and PDAF along with an 8 megapixel front snapper with f/2.0 aperture for selfies or video calling. Keeping the smartphone ticking is a 3,000mAh battery. The sound output on the smartphone has been further powered by Dolby Atmos. Other features include a fingerprint sensor on the front, which also doubles up as the home button.
Contrary to earlier reports about multiple Nokia-branded smartphones, HMD Global chose to unveil a China-exclusive Nokia 6 as the market, “is a reflection of the desire to meet the real world needs of consumers in different markets around the world. With over 552 million smartphone users in China in 2016, a figure that is predicted to grow to more than 593 million users by 2017, it is a strategically important market where premium design and quality is highly valued by consumers.”
HMD Global, which will now sell and market Nokia-branded smartphones, has further indicated that the Nokia 6 won’t be the only device releasing this year. The company notes in its press release that more Nokia-branded Android smartphones will be released in H1 2017.
Nokia, once the global leader in mobile manufacturing, teamed up with Microsoft for the Lumia range of Windows smartphones. However, the Windows-powered devices failed to gained popularity. In 2014, Microsoft continued selling cheaper basic phones under Nokia’s name and Lumia smartphones under its own name, but last year, it largely abandoned both businesses.
In December last year, HMD took over the Nokia feature phone business and under a licensing deal attained rights to use the Nokia brand on all phones and tablets for the next decade. The company will pay Nokia royalties for the brand and patents, but Nokia has no direct investment in HMD.
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