The global version of the Nokia 6 will not include a notification LED light due to the findings of some unspecified market research conducted by HMD Global. For many, an LED notification light may be considered a basic feature of any smartphone, but according to HMD Global, or at least according to a member of the Nokia mobile support team, the firm’s internal findings suggest otherwise, implying that the average consumer actually doesn’t consider this functionality to be essential.
Due to this state of affairs, all global variants of the Nokia 6 will not include a notification LED light on their top bezels. It’s currently unclear why the company even conducted the research regarding the feature, but its efforts may have been related to cost-cutting measures. The inclusion of the feature certainly isn’t a costly one, but removing it allows the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) to save a small amount per device sold, potentially saving significant resources in case that the Nokia 6 becomes a major commercial success. For now, it has only been confirmed that global versions of this particular handset don’t include the feature, but if the Finnish OEM is truly looking to save some manufacturing costs, it’s possible that HMD Global will remove the feature from global versions of the Nokia 3 and Nokia 5 as well.
The Nokia 6 is expected to go on sale in most markets this month and should be available worldwide by August. The device is set to feature a large 5.5-inch display panel along with the Snapdragon 430 system-on-chip (SoC), 3GB of RAM, and 32GB of internal storage space. Coupled with all of this is a 16-megapixel rear camera, along with a front-facing 8-megapixel sensor. HMD Global previously confirmed that the smartphone ships with Android 7.1.1 Nougat out of the box, with the software itself being extremely close to stock Android. Taking these specs into consideration, as well as the $250 price tag of the device, the lack of a notification LED light is unlikely to affect the sales of the Nokia 6. An update on the commercial performance of the handset and HMD’s other devices should follow later this year.