Nokia Global 5G Phone With Snapdragon 690 Teased By HMD Global
Qualcomm made a rather surprising revelation when it announced the Snapdragon 690, opening the doors even for mid-range phones to promise support for 5G networks, whether or not it makes sense for some markets. Of course, this smartphone tier is populated by innumerable brands and models that start to look and sound like each other. There are, of course, a few names that stand out in the market, like Motorola's G series and HMD Global's Nokia phones, the latter of which is already gearing up to call dibs on Qualcomm's new mobile platform.
When it announced the still-MIA Nokia 8.3, HMD Global didn't just advertise an affordable 5G phone that ran on Qualcomm's Snapdragon 765G. It boasted about the phone being the world's first truly global 5G, supporting all sub-6GHz 5G networks around the world (which excludes mmWave networks), making it possible to roam with 5G just as you would with 4G today.
HMD Global Chief Product Officer Juho Sarvikas makes a similar spiel for an unnamed Nokia phone, this time running on the newly announced Snapdragon 690. The difference, of course, is that this could potentially be even cheaper than the Nokia 8.3, making it more accessible to buyers around the world and cementing that "truly global 5G" factor.
Congratulations @cristianoamon and the awesome team at @Qualcomm for the launch of #Snapdragon 690 Mobile Platform! We are excited to bring our Nokia Phones vision of a truly global, future proof 5G experience at an even more affordable price with this transformational platform! pic.twitter.com/yctqfE13sY
— Juho Sarvikas (@sarvikas) June 17, 2020
Such a phone, however, won't exactly be like today's Snapdragon 600 series phones, at least based on what the chip is capable of on paper. In addition to a 20% improvement in performance thanks to the eight 2.0 GHz Kryo 560 cores, the Snapdragon 690 is also capable of photography feats such as 4K HDR 30 fps video recording and support for up to a 192 megapixel sensor.
HMD Global's next 5G Nokia phone might not have all those, of course, but the mere idea could be enough to get some people excited for it. That said, there are also some people who are extremely disappointed that the company's first promise of a truly global 5G phone hasn't even become a reality yet, three months after the Nokia 8.3 was first announced.