ALL-NEW Nokia smartphones running Android Nougat set to appear in 2017, with more virtual reality and wearables also on the way.
Nokia is set for a return to the world of smartphones, new reports have claimed.
According to leaked information from within the company, the iconic Finnish phone maker, which quit the smartphone game earlier this year, is planning to launch new Nokia devices in 2017.
Nokia has not released a smartphone since February 2016, when launched the Lumia 650 device in association with Microsoft.
The news of Nokia’s return comes via a leaked internal memo shared with Nokiapoweruser.
A slide from Nokia’s Capital Markets Day presentation says that the ‘Nokia brand’s return to smartphones’ will be coming in 2017.
This puts a possible release date most likely at Mobile World Congress 2017, set to be held in Barcelona next February, where many of the world’s biggest companies reveal their new devices.
Also coming next year from Nokia is an expansion of its virtual reality products, which could mean the company is preparing a successor to its Ovo camera, the first generation of which was released at this year’s Mobile World Congress.
There will also be the launch of a ‘Digital Health’ product, most likely a wearable device, and an expansion in its mobile and smart car patents.
2018 will then see Nokia expand upon many of these areas, particularly Virtual Reality and digital health.
Reports of a possible Nokia return first emerged last month, although this was related to the company’s licensing of its brand name out to newly-created Finnish conglomerate HMD Global.
HMD, which teamed up with iPhone maker Foxconn, is expected to launch three or four new devices within the next few months, with the first, rumoured to be called the D1C, landing before Christmas.
The D1C is thought to come packing Android Nougat, rather than the Windows Phone platform seen on recent Nokia Lumia devices.
The phone will fit solidly into the mid-range sector, sporting a Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 octa-core processor running at 1.4Ghz and 3GB of RAM.