Nokia 6 is All Set To Be The First Nokia Android Phone, But is it Too Late?

The tech titan of past – Nokia is ready to make a comeback with its very own Android phone called Nokia 6. HMD Global, Finnish company that recently bought the rights to use Nokia branding on its mobile phones, is going launch the said phone.

Nokia has created a teaser page with a promotional video for the said Nokia 6 on its website, giving more details on the upcoming android powered Nokia phone.

Nokia also said that this is “the first Android phone by Nokia ever”. The statement shows that Nokia is emphasizing on the fact that the phone will be an exclusive android phone. The company earlier made phones like Nokia XL –  with Windows that could run android apps as third party apps. Nokia XL, even though capable of running android apps, came without Play Store.

However, HMD Global has stated that for now, the phone will be exclusive to China only. HMD Global says that the decision to release their first phone in China was strategically made because “China is an important market where premium design and quality is highly valued by consumers.”

Nokia 6 will pack a 5.5 inch full HD display with 2.5D Gorilla glass, a Qualcomm Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 processor along with 4 GB of RAM and 64 GB of onboard storage. The Nokia 6 will have a 16 MP rear camera and an 8 MP front-facing camera. The phone will support Dolby Atmos, and has dual amplifiers that the company says will “deliver a 6 dB louder sound than a regular amp”.

The phones will be manufactured at Foxconn factories. Foxconn manufactures devices for major companies, like Apple Inc., Google, and Microsoft etc.

A spokesperson for HMD said “It takes 55 minutes to machine a single Nokia 6 from a solid block of 6000 series aluminum. It then receives two separate anodizing processes, taking over ten hours to complete, with each phone being polished no less than five times. The end result is an aluminum unibody with the highest level of visual and structural quality.”

The success of Nokia 6 is very important for HMD Global and mainly the Nokia label. Nokia was once a pioneer and a mobile giant, a status it lost because of Apple’s iPhone and Google’s Android back in late 2000s. Nokia’s rise and the epic downfall is no secret to anyone. The Finnish company rose to its glory in 90s and early 2000s. Its fall however started around 2007 and 2008, the years when iPhone and Android 1.0 were launched respectively.

Nokia thought that the iPhone and Android won’t affect its well established market around the world – a dire mistake for which it paid heavily. Nokia failed to adapt Android in favor of its Symbian OS, something which other mobile makers did as soon as they could. The result was a plethora of android devices in the market and Nokia found itself struggling to cope up with the competition while rest of the market was flooded with iPhones.

Global market share held by Nokia smartphones from 1st quarter 2007 to 2nd quarter 2013

Desperate, Nokia teamed up and then later sold its mobile phone division to Microsoft. The move was not profitable for either Nokia or Microsoft as Nokia Lumia devices were average success, something that resulted in Microsoft eliminating Nokia label and making Lumia the sole Windows phone moniker.

Now years later, Nokia is finally coming up with its very own android phone. A move still full of risks as the mobile phone market is dominated by the likes of Samsung, Apple, Motorola and now even Google with its Pixel phones. These companies will give Nokia a run for money as they are years ahead of Nokia in developing and selling android devices.  Even the two biggest countries in Asian market, India and China have plenty of local android phone manufacturers like Micromax, Vivo, Oppo, Xiaomi etc.

Nokia 6 is exclusive for China now but later when they launch their phones for other markets, they will have to fight tooth and nail. It is a long road for Nokia and it won’t be an easy one.