In a rather under-the-radar fashion, HMD Global, the company who gained exclusive rights to the Nokia branding in May of last year, has officially announced the Nokia 6, their first Android smartphone. The phone, exclusive to China, and sold on JD.com, will retail for 1699 yuan, or USD$245 in early 2017.
The phone, crafted completely out of aluminium, will offer a 5.5-inch Full HD display with 2.5D curved glass, Snapdragon 430 SoC (System on a Chip) processor, 4GB of RAM, 64GB onboard storage, dual-SIM capability, a microSD slot, a 16MP rear camera and 8MP front-facing camera, a fingerprint sensor and a 3000mAh battery. The phone will also run Android Nougat right out of the box.
It takes 55 minutes to machine a single Nokia 6 from a solid block of 6000 series aluminium. It then receives two separate anodising processes, taking over ten hours to complete, with each phone being polished no less than five times. The end result is an aluminium unibody with the highest level of visual and structural quality.
China boasts 552 million smartphone users, marking the territory as a “strategically important market” for HMD Global:
The decision by HMD to launch its first Android smartphone into China is a reflection of the desire to meet the real world needs of consumers in different markets around the world. With over 552 million smartphone users in China in 2016, a figure that is predicted to grow to more than 593 million users by 20171, it is a strategically important market where premium design and quality is highly valued by consumers.
Nestor Xu, HMD Global’s Vice President for Greater China also had the following to say:
China is the largest and most competitive smartphone market in the world. It is no coincidence that we have chosen to bring our first Android device to China with a long-term partner. JD.com is known for its upwardly mobile customer base and it has for many years believed in the Nokia brand and sold millions of our products to Chinese customers. Launching our first smartphone device, in such a strategically important market, with JD.com a trusted online retailer marks a signal of intent.
Source: HMD Global
