Nokia 5G flagship is coming in November according to HMD Global exec

By Ewdison Then/July 6, 2021 1:16 am EST

The Nokia brand has survived the test of time and multiple generations of mobile devices, though it has had some help from HMD Global. The Finland-based company revived the Nokia name with dozens of smartphones and feature phones. Although it has quite a number of devices under its care, HMD still has to make a new Nokia flagship worthy to stand with other premium phones in the market today. That might still be coming later this year, but it's becoming a guessing game what that 5G phone will actually bring to the table.

It's not that HMD Global hasn't made a Nokia flagship yet. That was the Nokia 9 PureView pictured above with its eccentric five 12MP cameras, among other high-end components. That phone, however, launched back in 2019, and the mobile world has moved on to newer hardware and newer designs.

According to a now-deleted Weibo post from HMD China Project Manager Zhang Yucheng, the wait is going to be a bit longer than some might have wished. The company exec says that HMD will hold a special event on China's "Single's Day", a.k.a. November 11 (11.11), where it will debut a new Nokia 5G phone. Admittedly, he doesn't actually say it will be a flagship 5G phone, but it doesn't usually schedule a big event for new mid-range or entry-level devices.

That has understandably sent the Internet into a flurry of speculation on what that 5G phone might be. HMD Global has launched a new Nokia X series recently, but the first devices are more on the budget side of the fence. A Nokia X50 has been making rounds on the Web, but that might only get a Snapdragon 775 5G processor.

And then there's the recent rumor of a Nokia X60 that might run Huawei's HarmonyOS instead of Android. Considering the timing and location of the announcement, this 5G phone could indeed be HMD Global's first device aimed specifically at the Chinese market. That, unfortunately, could disappoint fans of the Nokia brand from international markets who are still hoping for a new premium Nokia phone.