HMD Global may be preparing to release a more capable variant of the Nokia 8 in the United States, with the Finnish company submitting a device with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of internal flash memory to the Federal Communications Commission earlier this month as part of its certification request. The handsets boasting the improved specs still bear the model numbers TA-1004 and TA-1012, both of which have already been sighted online on numerous occasions and also denote some Nokia 8 variants that are being sold in Europe and some other markets. It’s currently unclear whether HMD will ultimately attach other model numbers to the most premium version of its flagship device as using the same denotation for labeling units with different hardware isn’t a standard industry practice and may even confuse some consumers.
Apart from revealing that it’s working on an improved version of the Nokia 8, HMD’s latest filing also mentions that the device is equipped with a screen developed by Japan Display Inc (JDI), a joint venture ran by Sony, Hitachi, and Toshiba. The Japanese display panel manufacturer is also believed to have supplied the modules for the regular Nokia 8 which carries a 5.3-inch IPS LCD screen with a QHD resolution of 2,560 by 1,440 pixels amounting to a conventional aspect ratio of 16:9. HMD has presumably been collaborating with JDI since it took over the Nokia smartphone brand from Microsoft and introduced the Nokia 3, Nokia 5, and Nokia 6. The final detail revealed in HMD’s correspondence with the FCC is that the Finnish company is a client of Sporton International, a Taiwanese provider of product testing and certification services. As the usage rights for the brand are partially owned by Foxconn’s subsidiary FIH Mobile and the new Nokia devices are presumed to be manufactured by the Taiwanese tech giant, it’s not surprising that the company opted for a local electronics testing service to verify the quality of its offerings before submitting them for regulatory approvals.
The regular variant of the Nokia 8 with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage space is still only available in select markets and is expected to roll out to more territories in the coming weeks. Apart from the United States, the newly uncovered model with twice the internal memory and 6GB of RAM is expected to also be sold in China.