The company already made quite the buzz with confirmed debut of new handsets at Mobile World Congress in February. Nokia CEO has already promised to deliver the trademark design and build quality we come to associate with the brand. However, Nokia won’t be building its own smartphones rather will be outsourcing it to HMD Global, a Finnish hardware startup run by former Nokia employees.
Nokia’s two-year non-compete deal with Microsoft ends this year and HMD Global holds the right to license Nokia’s brand for the next 10 years. The company will further license the manufacturing part to Foxconn and use Nokia’s diverse set of design and telecom patents. Nokia is reported to make its smartphone comeback with three new devices. Nokia has already made significant strides in the world of virtual reality and its OZO VR camera is already helping in the production of world-class VR content.
Initially rumours indicated that Nokia’s comeback devices will be powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 820 processor. But other rumours indicate that Nokia will announce two flagship devices and another mid-range smartphone at MWC in February 2017 and the company might jump to Snapdragon 821 or the latest Snapdragon 835 ahead of the launch in order to better compete with Google’s Pixel and Pixel XL range in the flagship segment.
Not to forget, is Nokia’s promise to deliver the latest Android operating system. The large part of play here is the use of company’s very own Z-launcher based UI instead of stock one. Nokia’s Z launcher is a fun third party launcher that adapts itself according to use. Users can access their favourite apps quickly and there is even an option to scribble to reach apps.
