HMD Global, the Finnish company that currently designs and sells Nokia-branded smartphones, will likely launch its flagship product on August 16. The device, which is rumored to be marketed as the Nokia 8, will be the first premium Nokia handset since HMD Global took over the brand. The information regarding the likely launch date came from an invitation sent out by the manufacturer to members of the press. While the invitation did not mention anything specific about the flagship, the manufacturer did note that the event will showcase a milestone for Nokia-branded devices.
Even though the manufacturer has yet to unveil the Nokia 8 to the public, numerous leaks and renders have already provided a number of indications regarding the phone’s specifications. The smartphone will reportedly have a home button and capacitive navigation buttons below the display, with the home button likely housing a fingerprint scanner. The device is said to sport a 5.7-inch display with a resolution of 2560 x 1440. The back of the phone will apparently house two vertically arranged rear cameras with a dual-LED flash and heart rate monitor beneath them. Both of the rear cameras will be of the 13-megapixel variety, with the imaging module itself being manufactured by Carl Zeiss. Previous reports have stated that the Nokia 8 will be available in blue, steel/silver, gold/blue, and gold/copper color choices.
The rumored internal hardware of the Nokia 8 suggests that the handset is poised to compete with flagship offerings from other Android OEMs. The handset is reportedly powered by the Snapdragon 835 chipset from Qualcomm, which is equipped with eight 64-bit cores. The chipset also includes the Adreno 540 GPU, whereas the handset will have either 6GB or 8GB of RAM and 64GB of internal flash storage. Consumers will also likely be able to connect the handset to two networks at once since it will have a dual-SIM card slot, previous reports have indicated. Software-wise, the Nokia 8 will launch with Android 7.1.1 Nougat that’s expected to be similar to the vanilla version of the OS. HMD is expected to launch several variants of its upcoming high-end smartphone intended for different regions, with the device itself being rumored to hit the market by September.