Nokia 8 with Snapdragon 835 to launch on July 31: Report

HMD Global – the Finnish company that owns the rights to manufacture Nokia-branded smartphones – is closer to launch its most expensive device till date. Rumours have been going back and forth over HMD Global’s upcoming flagship smartphone. It could be either the Nokia 8 or the Nokia 9. However, according to German website WinFuture, HMD Global’s next-generation phone is the Nokia 8 with the model number TA-1004.

Rumours and leaks up until now have largely pointed that the Nokia 8 and Nokia 9 would be launched in the second-half of the year. It’s also being assumed that the phone with the model number TA-1004 would be launched as the Nokia 9. Now it appears that the Finnish company has finally decided to launch its first high-end phone, and it will be marketed as the Nokia 8.

The report claims that the Nokia 8 will be a premium phone that’s going to come with a Snapdragon 835 processor – the latest chipset from Qualcomm. Further, the device will come with 4GB RAM and 64GB of internal storage. WinFuture also reports that the Nokia 8 will come with dual-SIM cards in Europe, but the company is likely to offer the single SIM variant of the device as well.

Four colour schemes are currently planned for the Nokia 8 – Blue, Steel, Gold/Blue and Gold/Copper. A Scandinavian retailer has allegedly claimed that the phone will go on sale on July 31, and with a price tag of €589 ( or approx Rs 43,415). In other countries, however, the price will be slightly lower. For comparison, the iPhone 7 costs Rs 47,699, and the Galaxy S8 sells for Rs 57,900.

WinFuture remains unsure about the previously speculated specifications of the Nokia 8 as they do not match up with the information they have received lately. Earlier information indicated that the Nokia 8 might ship with a 5.7-inch Quad HD ( 2560 x 1440) display, and dual 13-megapixel cameras.

At this point, Nokia 8 remains a mysterious smartphone. However, it shouldn’t be a surprise to see a flagship phone from the company in the second-half of the year. HMD Global has recently announced an “exclusive” partnership with German optics company Zeiss.  The first three Nokia phones – Nokia 6, Nokia 5 and Nokia 3don’t have a Zeiss lenses, which leads us to believe that the company’s next smartphone,  rumoured to be the Nokia 8, might feature a Zeiss lens.