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For the uninitiated, Nokia used to exist a big name in smartphones in the years just before the iPhone arrived on the scene. It sold phones and tablet-like devices running Symbian, Maemo, and other platforms that have since bitten the dust. These devices were hugely popular for the fourth dimension, though. The brand may exist on rail to return to its celebrity days, or at least endeavor. After announcing a Mainland china-only Android telephone recently, Nokia and hardware partner HMD Global are teasing another reveal for February 26th.

The Nokia that exists now is essentially what was left after Microsoft acquired the company's mobile device business. That piece of Nokia was consumed by Microsoft, which then proceeded to boggle its smartphone ambitions. Several rounds of layoffs later, Microsoft has scaled back its mobile device business concern. 1 has to wonder what would have happened if Nokia had gone with Android instead of becoming a Windows Phone partner. The company is sort of getting a do-over now.

The first device from Nokia and HMD is the Nokia 6 (above), which is only for Cathay. Nokia says on its official Facebook page that fans can look frontward to "more announcements" on Feb 26th. Merely what could that be? HMD Global is a Finnish visitor founded with the express purpose of designing the hardware for Nokia-branded phones. So, we can expect hardware unique to Nokia — not a white-label Chinese devices that simply has Nokia'due south proper name slapped on information technology, which has been the example for some past devices.

Nokia

The Nokia six could provide some fuel for speculation. That phone is powered by a Snapdragon 430 with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage. The hardware is midrange — the ARM scrap is from 2022, for example. Information technology'southward not a flagship phone, or even a budget flagship a la the OnePlus 3T. It wouldn't make sense to announce the Nokia 6 equally a China-only device, and so announce the same device for everyone else a month after. The only difference would be LTE bands and a Google-supported build of Android. Thus, I call back Nokia'south announcement will feature more up-calibration hardware for Europe and possibly North America. I would non, however, wait anything intended to compete with the Milky way S7 or Google Pixel.

The February 26th date lines up with the outset of Mobile Earth Congress, one of the biggest mobile tech shows of the twelvemonth. Information technology's a good take chances for Nokia to get attention for a phone it intends to sell more widely. It remains to be seen if Nokia and HMD can recreate the old Nokia'due south lightning in a bottle.