More than 10 years have passed since the first iPhone hit stores, but Nokia was never able to come up with a decent iPhone rival. An undisputed leader in the mobile business when the iPhone arrived, Nokia had to die a slow and painful death before it embraced Android. Fast forward to today, and we already have there Nokia-branded Android handsets in stores. Furthermore, HMD Global, the company making these handsets, is about to launch the first flagship phone that does two critical things: It runs the latest Android version, and it displays a Nokia logo.
Until today, we had no confirmation on when the phone will launch. A report said that HMD will unveil it on July 31st, but it looks like that’s not going to happen. HMD sent out press invites to the media for a press event, The Verge reports. The Nokia 8 wasn’t specifically mentioned, but that’s probably the phone that HMD will present to the world in London on August 16th, at 7:30 PM local time.
Thanks to a flurry of leaks, including HMD’s accidental listing of the phone on its Chinese-language site, we know the Nokia 8 is real. We know it’ll sport Galaxy S8-grade specs, and it’ll even feature a dual lens camera on the back.
It might lack an all-screen design, but the Nokia 8 may turn out to be a great alternative to the iPhone, as well as the other Android flagships in town. Rumors claim the handset will cost less than $600, which will make it a lot more affordable than the iPhone 8, iPhone 7s, Galaxy Note 8, and Pixel 2 — all these phones are supposed to launch in the coming months.
