Rumors circulate in social media about Nokia working on mid-range devices powered by Snapdragon 690 after HMD Global's Chief Product Officer Juho Sarvikas tweeted on Friday, June 19, to a congratulate Qualcomm after it launched the chipset.
Nokia is known to offer smartphones at each price level. With the new development, it will be one of the first to bring affordable 5G smartphones, as reported by TechRadar.
Sarvikas also talked about how it will help Nokia make 5G more affordable. Qualcomm also confirmed that Nokia will be one of the first companies they are working with to market the new 5G chipset.
Since the Nokia 8.3 5G that carries Snapdragon 700 series chipset was recently launched, rumors say the upcoming device will be part of the Nokia 7 line. Sarvikas also implied in his replies that the device will have a high refresh rate display, which no Nokia phone currently offers.
The recent refresh of Nokia 7.2 has added weight to this rumor. How about Nokia 7.3? Perhaps. After all, Qualcomm revealed that Snapdragon 690-powered smartphones may have a price tag of between $300 and $500, which is indeed in the range for the Nokia 7 series.
Meanwhile, aside from its expected launch date later this year, there are no other details shared about the device.
What's about the Snapdragon 690?
The Snapdragon 690 is the first in the 600 processor series with 5G capabilities because of its new X51 RF modem. While it does not suit carriers with mmWave technology, it supports global bands, NSA, and SA on the sub-6 spectrum.
The Snapdragon 690 also carries an 8nm octa-core design with two big Kryo 560 cores clocked at up to 2GHz that ensures performance and six little ARM Cortex-A55 cores for great efficiency. The CPU is said to perform 20% better than its Snapdragon 675 predecessor.
Other hardware specifications of the chipset include support for cameras with a resolution of 192MP or 32MP with multi-frame noise reduction and zero shutter lag. On the video side, this processor is packed with Full HD recording at 120fz and QHD at 60fps and supported for HDR10+ as well as Qualcomm Quick Charge 4+.
Who is making affordable 5G phones?
Qualcomm said it has already inked a partnership with at least six telecom manufacturers to use the Snapdragon 690 chipset, but they are still working with more possible partners. This could mean a wide range of affordable 5G phones to arrive over the next 12 to 18 months, so more people could access the 5G technology. TechRadar has also listed the confirmed manufacturers that will use the Snapdragon 690 chipset.
- HMD Global (Nokia Phones)
- LG
- Motorola
- Sharp
- TCL
Wingtech (makes phones for Xiaomi, Huawei, Meizu, and Lenovo) There are currently over 60 mobile operators worldwide that offer 5G connectivity in over 30 countries. In North America and Europe, major cities have been the first to gain 5G while it is gradually being offered to wider areas. Meanwhile, Qualcomm says that it is expecting to launch the first Snapdragon 690-enabled smartphones in the second half of 2020.