Nokia's "return to smartphones" confirmed for 2017

In case you didn't believe that Nokia would re-enter the smartphone business next year, we now have an official confirmation that should end any doubts about this. In a slide from Nokia's Capital Markets Day 2016 - an event held on November 15 for investors - the company states that 2017 will represent "Nokia brand's return to smartphones."

Mind you, Nokia won't make smartphones itself, since it no longer has the required manufacturing facilities. Thus, the handsets will be made in collaboration with Finnish company HMD Global, and Taiwanese giant Foxconn. Led by former Nokia execs, HDM will "develop, market and sell Nokia-branded phones and accessories", while Foxconn is dealing with R&D and manufacturing. Moreover, a renowned advertising agency was contracted to help promote upcoming Nokia smartphones.

One of the first Nokia-branded handsets of 2017 could be the D1C, which allegedly runs Android 7 Nougat and offers mid-range specs like a 1080p display, a Snapdragon 430 processor, and 3 GB of RAM.

Nokia will host a keynote at MWC 2017 (February 27 - March 2), and chances are that it's going to share some details on its next generation smartphones then. Let us know if you're excited about this!


sources: Nokia, PDF presentation via NPU