HMD Global – the official licensee for Nokia brand of phones – launched the Nokia X6 smartphone back in May this year in China. The X6 was later launched under the moniker of Nokia 6.1 Plus for global markets. HMD did the same with Nokia X5 by launching it as Nokia 5.1 Plus for global markets. And, the company was expected to continue that trend by launching the Nokia X7 as Nokia 7.1 Plus for global markets. But, if the recent information is to be believed, then the Nokia X7 will not be launched for global markets under the Nokia 7.1 Plus moniker.
According to Nokia anew, the Nokia X7 launched in China recently will be launched as Nokia 8.1 for global markets. Initially, the X7 was supposed to be launched as Nokia 7.1 Plus, but Nokia anew reports that Juho Sarvikas – Chief Product Officer at HMD Global – decided to launch X7 as 8.1 globally.
Furthermore, Nokia anew also reports that Nokia 8.1, which will be a re-branded X7 for global markets, will be launched this year. But, the Nokia 7.1 Plus will be a different smartphone altogether, and will not be launched before Mobile World Congress in February 2019.
Well, this decision to launch the X7 as 8.1 globally hints at HMD Global wanting to establish the Nokia 8 series smartphones as mid-range smartphones, with Nokia 9 series then positioned as the flagship series. Having said that, for those unaware, HMD Global has launched two smartphones under the Nokia 8 series – the Nokia 8 and Nokia 8 Sirocco. Both of these were launched as flagships and come with Snapdragon 835 under the hood.
The Nokia 8.1 had recently appeared on popular benchmarking site Geekbench with Snapdragon 710, 4 GB RAM and Android 9.0 Pie. The Nokia X7 comes with Snapdragon 710 and 4 GB RAM, but it runs Android Oreo instead of Pie.
You can check out specifications of Nokia X7 down below, because that’s what you will likely get on the Nokia 8.1 as well.
Nokia X7 Specifications
- CPU: Snapdragon 710 octa-core processor
- RAM: 4/6 GB LPDDR4X
- GPU: Adreno 616
- Operating System: Android 8.1 Oreo (upgradeable to Android 9.0 Pie)
- Display: 6.18-inch Full-HD+ (2246 x 1080 pixels) PureDisplay with 18.7:9 aspect ratio, and HDR and HDR10 support, 1500:1 contrast ratio and 500 nits brightness
- Rear Camera: 12 MP (f/1.8 aperture, 1.4 μm pixel size, dual PDAF, OIS) + 13 MP with ZEISS Optics, AI Portrait Mode, AI Scene Recognition, Pro Mode, EIS and Dual LED flash
- Front Camera: 20 MP with f/2.0 aperture and 1.8 μm pixel size
- Internal Storage: 64 GB (with 4 and 6 GB RAM), 128 GB (with 6 GB RAM)
- External Storage: Expandable up to 400 GB via microSD card
- SIM: Dual Hybrid Slot
- Connectivity: 4G VoLTE, VoWiFi, GPS, Bluetooth 5.0, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, 3.5 mm headphone jack, USB Type-C
- Other: Fingerprint Scanner, Bothie, Nokia OZO Audio
- Colors: Blue, Black, Silver, Red
- Battery: 3500 mAh with 18W Fast Charging
