The Nokia 9 PureView was expected to arrive way back in September this year, though back then, it was known as simply the “Nokia 9”. Since then, a number of delay reports surfaced, and those delay reports just got confirmed by HMD Global’s employee. This information comes from Britta Gerbracht, German marketing head, who admitted that there have been some delays when it comes to the company’s upcoming flagship (though he did not confirm its name). He shared this info during the Nokia 8.1 launch, while he also admitted that the delays took place because of the phone’s camera. Mr. Gerbracht says that the camera quality on the phone did not yet reach the necessary level of quality that HMD Global expects, which is why the phone still did not launch. On top of this, Mr. Gerbracht also confirmed that the Nokia 8 Sirocco sales were not as high as HMD Global had hoped, which is why the company is careful when it comes to releasing high-end devices, and wants to be spot on when dropping the Nokia 9 PureView.
Nokia 9 vs Nokia 9 PureView
The Nokia 9 rumors have been popping up for months now, pretty much since the Mobile World Congress (MWC) ended at the beginning of March. That being said, those rumors were mentioning the “Nokia 9” up until the point HMD Global acquired rights to use the “PureView” brand from Microsoft. Ever since that happened, the Nokia 9 is being referred to as the Nokia 9 PureView, and it seems like that name is what HMD Global will go with. Mr. Gerbracht’s camera-related delays confirmation pretty much confirms that the Nokia 9 PureView will have a complicated camera setup, and that definitely screams “PureView”. The Nokia 9 PureView is rumored to sport five camera modules on the back, on top of PureView branding and technology, so it will definitely take HMD Global some time to not only implement that into the phone, but make it work properly and compete with the best smartphone cameras out there, as PureView tech is different to what other OEMs are offering at the moment, and it’s a technology that we basically did not see in action since the last Nokia and PureView-branded Lumia smartphone arrived years ago.
Delays So Far
Several Nokia 9 PureView delay-related reports surfaced thus far, and pretty much all of them stated that the company’s Head of Product, Juho Sarvikas, is the main man behind those delays. At first, those reports suggested that Mr. Sarvikas is not happy with the final product, which is why he decided that the phone will not be released back in September, and after that, reports stated that PureView branding and technology may have something to do with the phone being delayed. It seems like those reports were at least somewhat accurate, and those delays managed to anger some of the company’s employees. Some reports suggested that HMD Global’s employees were not happy with Mr. Sarvikas as they thought that HMD Global is missing an opportunity to compete with other flagships in the market, as they did not release their very own offering, as those employees thought that the Nokia 9 is more than ready to be launched at the time.
Nokia 9 PureView Design & Specifications
The Nokia 9 PureView is expected to be made out of metal and glass, as CAD-based renders confirmed a while back. The phone will include seven “rings” on the back, five of which are there to host the device’s camera sensors. The device will include some bezel above and below the display, more than today’s flagships, but those bezels will not be thick by any stretch of the imagination. The phone’s back side will be curved, and the remaining two rings on the back are reserved or an LED flash, and some sort of a dual sensor that was mentioned in rumors, we’re not entirely sure what it’s for yet, but it could be connected to the PureView tech implementation. The device is expected to sport a rather large display on the front, while it will be fueled by either the Snapdragon 845 or Snapdragon 855, depending on when HMD Global opts to release it. The Nokia 9 PureView will ship with Android 9 Pie, and it will be a part of Google’s Android One project. The device will include at least 6GB of RAM on the inside, though an 8GB RAM variant is also a possibility. A rather large battery is also expected to be included on the inside of this phone, though we’re still not sure what battery exactly.
Snapdragon 845 or Snapdragon 855?
Most rumors thus far suggested that the Nokia 9 PureView will include the Snapdragon 845, and not the recently-launched Snapdragon 855. That may be a mistake for the company at this point, they’ve waited this long to announce the phone, so waiting another month or two and including the Snapdragon 855 on the inside may be a better option for HMD Global. The Nokia 8 Sirocco that we’ve mentioned in the first paragraph was announced during the Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2018, and it arrived with last year’s processor, the Snapdragon 835, while the Snapdragon 845 was already available to OEMs. The phone was quite expensive when it was announced, especially considering that it offered a dated flagship processor, so HMD Global should learn from its past mistakes, and find a way to implement the Snapdragon 855 before launching this smartphone, as the Nokia 9 PureView is expected to be, by far the best Nokia-branded Android smartphone to date, which will not only offer great performance and solid design, but an amazing camera performance, and including the very latest flagship processor is a must if the company aims to compete with the likes of the Galaxy S10, LG G8, OnePlus 7… and all the other flagship phones that will arrive in the coming months. It remains to be seen what will HMD Global do, however, as most rumors are pointing towards the Snapdragon 845, but considering we still do not know when will this phone become a reality (though chances are it will arrive in early 2019, perhaps even in January), anything is possible, of course.