Qualcomm introduced the Snapdragon 865 and 765(G) processors at Snapdragon Tech Summit yesterday. Following those announcements, many companies confirmed that they’re working on phones fueled by those chips. Nokia has confirmed that it is planning to introduce a “5G value flagship” in 2020.
This announcement came from HMD’s Chief Operating Officer (COO), Juho Sarvikas. He did not specify when exactly that Nokia “5G value flagship” will arrive, though.
Nokia to introduce “5G value flagship” with Snapdragon 765 SoC
He did, however, say that it will be fueled by the Snapdragon 765 processor. Considering this will be a 5G handset, it will ship with the Snapdragon 765G SoC.
Mr. Sarvikas did list some other specs / features that we can expect in this phone. He mentioned a PureDisplay panel, and a camera powered by ZEISS technology (UHD 4K video support).
He also confirmed that the phone will include global 5G roaming support. Mr. Sarvikas did not share the design of the phone, but he did mention that it will feature a “bezel-less layout”.
That is pretty much it, all the info that the company’s COO shared. HMD Global may be ready to share more info at MWC 2020, but it may not launch during that tradeshow. It may arrive in Q2, or something of the sort, we’ll see.
Juho Sarvikas did not mention the company’s Snapdragon 865-powered handset, though. The Nokia 9 PureView was announced earlier this year after quite a few delays. As a consequence of those delays, it launched with last year’s flagship processor, and quite a few issues.
Nokia was able to patch up some of those software issues with updates, but the Nokia 9 PureView was not as successful as HMD Global wanted.
HMD Global did do a great job with affordable Nokia-branded phones, at least if sales are anything to go by. The company was able to move quite a few units of such phones.
We still do not know if the Nokia 10 PureView is in the works or not
So, the question is whether HMD Global is planning to release a new flagship in 2020. The Nokia 10 PureView could be in the works, but Juho Sarvikas did not confirm anything of the sort.
If HMD Global ends up sticking to its release cycle, the Nokia 10 PureView may arrive at MWC 2020. Mr. Sarvikas is either quiet on purpose, as he doesn’t want to reveal anything ahead of time, or the company’s Snapdragon 865 flagship is not in the works at all. It is also possible that it will be released later in 2020, of course.
In any case, Nokia is ready to jump on board the 5G train, as are many other companies. 2020 will be a rather interesting year for 5G, as the technology will be spreading faster than ever before.