The unlocked Nokia 7.2 and 5.3 are on 'clearance' at their lowest prices ever

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After putting Nokia back on the map with a series of surprisingly feature-packed mid-range smartphones priced very competitively, and perhaps more importantly, stellar software support, exclusive brand licensee HMD Global dropped the ball with a disappointing flagship model in early 2019 and never truly recovered.

Not only did the company fail to release another high-end handset since then, but its low and mid-end devices got more and more... unimpressive, not to mention how inexplicably slow Nokia-branded phones are at adopting the latest Android version all of a sudden.

Of course, many flaws can be easily ironed out with a big enough discount, although we'll let you decide for yourselves if that's true for the unlocked Nokia 7.2 and 5.3 right now. As the name suggests, the humbler device is slightly newer than the Snapdragon 660-powered 7.2, having been released less than a year ago in the US at a recommended price of $199.99.

That might explain why Best Buy's big Nokia 5.3 "clearance" deal merely shaves 50 bucks off the aforementioned MSRP. On the bright side, there are no strings attached, no hoops to jump through, no upfront carrier activation required, and obviously, no trade-in or anything else of that sort involved.

Then again, the same goes for the retailer's Nokia 7.2 clearance offer, which slashes a much more substantial $140 off the $349.99 list price of the late 2019-released 6.3-inch handset in a single charcoal flavor.

Curiously enough, HMD has yet to unveil a Nokia 7.3 (let alone a 7.4 variant) despite already putting a 5.4 model up for grabs stateside at $249.99. In a way, that makes the $209.99 Nokia 7.2 feel like an even better bargain, especially if you also consider its respectable spec sheet including everything from a generous 128 gigs of internal storage space to a decent 4GB RAM count, 3,500mAh battery, and triple rear-facing camera system with Zeiss optics.

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The notched display is itself no pushover, sporting a resolution of 2280 x 1080 pixels, while the phone undeniably looks premium at a first glance despite combining a glass back with a "cheap" plastic frame.

Obviously, the $149.99 Nokia 5.3 is entirely made from plastic, which doesn't mean it should be completely disregarded by bargain hunters out there. Thanks to its younger age, the 6.55-inch phone actually packs a newer and faster Snapdragon 665 processor than the 7.2, as well as a larger 4,000mAh cell, the same 4 gigs of memory paired with a lower 64GB storage count, and an unsurprisingly inferior quad rear-facing imaging setup headlined by a 13MP primary sensor.

Both the Nokia 7.2 and 5.3 come with near-stock Android 10 out the box, which means their Android 11 updates are almost certainly right around the corner... and should have been delivered much earlier.

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