Nokia’s Smartphone Comeback?

Source: HMD Global

Earlier this year, there were rumours that the company would again begin making smartphones, although it was not officially confirmed by Nokia executives. Nonetheless, a lot of users were hopefully optimistic over the news. Then, a couple of months ago, an image of one of the rumoured phones surfaced on the internet, fuelling consumer excitement.

Speaking at a MWC 2017 keynote, CEO James Rutherford of Microsoft Asia-Pacific said that HMD is planning several phone launches for the fourth quarter of this year , as well as next year. (HMD is a company, founded in May, 2016, to provide a focused, independent home with a  full range of Nokia-branded mobile phones and tablets, according to a press release on their website.)

HMD signed a strategic agreement with Nokia Technologies, the advanced technology and licensing unit of Nokia Corporation, giving HMD sole use of the Nokia brand on mobile phones and tablets worldwide for the next decade, and cellular standard essential patent licences.

According to some sources, two new Nokia smartphones will be unveiled by the end of this year and “at least” two in early Q2 of 2017.

At this point, there are no specs available for the phones, But, sources say, it’s fairly certain they’ll run on Android, either Marshmallow or the latest 7.0 Nougat.