What to expect from tomorrow’s #Nokia #MWC event

Three years have passed since Nokia did its last phone-related MWC. That year in 2014, Nokia sold its Devices and Services business to Microsoft, marking an end of an era. The only hope we had of seeing the original brand back was a part of the acquisition agreement that said: „Nokia remains the owner of the Nokia brand, and cannot use the brand on smartphones till the end of 2016.“

And so it happened. In short, in May last year, HMD, Nokia, Microsoft and Foxconn announced that they are taking parts in a new agreement in bringing back the Nokia brand on the market. HMD is a newly founded company based in Finland, consisting mainly of old Nokia employees, and it’s the sole licensee of the Nokia brand for smartphones, feature phones and tablets. Microsoft sold its (feature) phone business to Foxconn, alongside with the manufacturing facility in Vietnam, and gave the licence for Nokia name on feature phones to HMD. Foxconn agreed to be the main manufacture of the new Nokia-branded device. HMD will design, market and sell the devices, but the brand owner, Nokia Corporation, will supervise the whole process.

So now we are just one day away from new Nokia devices being announced again. What do we expect?

If we trust only the rumours that are circulating around, HMD will announce at least 3 smartphones and one feature phone.

The phone we are most certain to see tomorrow is a global version of the China exclusive Nokia 6, or some kind of a variant. Nokia 6 was announced early last month, and caught us by surprise, because we did not expect any Nokia-branded smartphone before MWC.

The key specifications of Nokia 6 are:

• 5-inch FullHD (1080p) screen
• Snapdragon 430 Processor
• 4GB of RAM
• 64GB internal memory
• Dual SIM with a hybrid second SIM slot (nanoSIM + noneSIM/MicroSD slot)
• Aluminum unibody
• 16MP back and 8MP front facing camera
• 3000mAh battery
• Android 7.0 Nougat
• €249 rumored price (€235 in China)

 

The other two smartphones HMD is expected to announce are named as Nokia 3 and Nokia 5. Both are specifications-wise and price-wise below Nokia 6. Nokia 5 is a lower midrange device with these key specifications:

• 5,2-inch HD (720p) screen
• Snapdragon 430 Processor
• 2GB RAM
• 16GB internal memory + MicroSD
• 13MP back camera and 8MP front facing camera
• Android 7.0 Nougat
• €199 rumored price

 

The Nokia 3 should be an entry level Android device with low-end specifications, and an affordable price. The key specifications are rumoured to be:

• 2-inch HD (720p) screen
• Snapdragon 425 Processor
• 2GB RAM
• 16GB internal memory + MicroSD
• 13MP back camera and 5MP front facing camera
• Android 7.0 Nougat
• €149 rumoured price

Category	Nokia 3	Nokia 5	Nokia 6
Screen size	5.2/5.3-inch	5.2-inch	5.5-inch
Resolution, ppi	1280×720; 282ppi	1280×720; 282ppi	1920×1080; 403ppi
Processor	Snapdragon 425	Snapdragon 430	Snapdragon 430
Memory (RAM+internal)	2GB+16GB	2GB+16GB	4GB+64GB
Camera (Main +FFC)	13MP + 5MP	13MP + 8MP	16MP+8MP
OS	Android 7.0	Android 7.0	Android 7.0
Price	€149	€199	€249

Read more about the Nokia 3 vs. 5 vs. 6 comparison here.

Next up, the rumoured feature phone. The rumours say that HMD will introduce a modern version of the iconic Nokia 3310. The expect specifications are not known, and frankly, not important. We know the device should cost €59, will run S30+ OS, and have a modern design with similarities to the original 3310 (coloured exchangeable masks, front and back ones).

Something we are not expected to see on MWC, but we keep hopes, is flagship smartphone. We heard 4 times already about a Nokia device with the high end Snapdragon 835 processor, but last few weeks the rumour mill is pretty quiet. There were reports that Samsung reserved the first batch of Snapdragon 835 processors for its Galaxy S8 devices, expected to appear in March or April. And only after Samsung ships its S8s, others can get their shipment of Snapdragon 835s.

If HMD were to announce flagship devices with Snapdragon 835 at MWC, we highly doubt that the devices will come to market before May. But let’s ignore the Snapdragon 835 problem for a moment, and let’s say that HMD will tomorrow announce a flagship device. That device would be the Nokia 8, according to the previous sources.

The device is rumoured to have:

• 7-inch Quad HD display
• Snapdragon 835
• 6GB RAM
• 64GB/128GB of internal storage + MicroSD
• 24MP back and 12MP front facing camera

There are almost no chances for introducing the flagship device tomorrow, but who knows. HMD showed to be very good in keeping secretes, since it’s impressive that no render of Nokia 3, 5 or 3310 has been leaked.

Withings, a part of Nokia, will also join HMD tomorrow, and probably introduce new health and fitness devices. It’s impressive that the whole event will be streamed in VR using Nokia OZO, world’s First Professional VR camera.

The official press conference will start tomorrow at 16:30 CET, and can be followed live via Facebook, and probably YouTube (in 2D and 3D). NokiaMob will, of course, follow the event and report on all thing happening in Barcelona. Stay tuned. 🙂

Note: All images of devices, apart from Nokia 6 and Qualcomm Reference design, are concepts.

Related:

Fan made Nokia 3310 render is close to the  real thing

Nokia Mobile to live stream MWC event on Facebook

Withings will be joining Nokia for a keynote at the MWC 2017

Nokia 3310 could land in India in May

A simple graph shows why are Nokia and HMD resurrecting 3310

Comparison: Nokia 6 vs. 5 vs. 3

Evleaks: HMD will launch Nokia 3, 5, and 6 at MWC17, together with a modern 3310

Qualcomm: The stories about Nokia 8 are not accurate