HMD Global has launched at least one smartphone in every price segment. The company recently unveiled Nokia 8 Sirocco with dual rear cameras. Though the Sirocco is a premium device, it has a merely 5-megapixel front camera and an older Snapdragon 835 chipset that make it incapable of challenging the iPhone X and Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus. The upcoming Nokia 9 is expected to be a true flagship that will compete directly against the best of Apple, Samsung, and Google phones. Rival vendors will have to up the game to compete with the Nokia 9 triple camera system.
Finnish publication Suomimobiili has leaked the Nokia 9 features online. The leak suggests that it would be an incredibly powerful smartphone with an impressive camera. In fact, the camera would be the biggest highlight of the handset. According to the leaked screenshot, the Nokia 9 would sport three cameras on the rear panel. HMD Global was also working on a five-camera setup, but that feature might not find its way into the Nokia 9.
Suomimobiili says the Nokia 9 triple camera setup would include a 41-megapixel, a 20-megapixel, and a 9.7-megapixel lens on the rear panel. It would use Carl Zeiss lenses along with LED flash and Xenon modules. The 41MP sensor would be a wide-angle lens with variable apertures of f/2.4 and f/1.5, similar to Samsung’s Galaxy S9’s dual apertures. This lens is also said to have 4x optical zoom and OIS. The 20MP telephoto lens will have OIS and a fixed aperture of f/2.4. The 9.7MP lens would be a monochrome sensor.
The report adds that Nokia 9 would have a 21-megapixel selfie camera with Carl Zeiss optics, 1.4-micron pixels, and an f/1.8 aperture. The Nokia 9 triple camera system would come with a Pro Camera mode, and the Bothie feature that allows you to use the front and rear cameras simultaneously. If the report turns out to be true, the rear camera setup would be similar to Huawei P20 Pro’s camera, which could be the result of a licensing agreement between Huawei and Nokia.
The spec sheet shared by Suomimobiili also mentions a Xenon flash, which has not been used in smartphones for a long time. The combination of Xenon and LED flash will ensure that you get a flashlight as well as a powerful camera flash. As Phone Arena points out, the Xenon flash operates in short bursts, so it can’t be used as the flashlight. The spec sheet suggests the device would measure 150.6 x 75.2 x 7.3 mm and have an 18-karat gold trim on the rear panel.
Talking about the upcoming flagship’s specifications, it would be powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 845 chipset, fixing one of the biggest drawbacks of the Nokia 8 Sirocco. It would offer 8GB RAM, a huge 6.01-inch AMOLED display with an 18:9 aspect ratio, Corning Gorilla Glass 5 protection, and an IP68 rating for water- and dust-resistance. It would offer dual-SIM support and run Android 8.1 Oreo out of the box. Nokia phones run the pure version of Android with little bloatware.
According to the spec sheet, the device would offer 256GB of internal storage, a USB Type-C port, Bluetooth 5.0, WiFi 801.11, NFC, GPS, and Glonass. It is said to pack a huge 3900mAh battery that would deliver up to 565 hours of standby time and 24 hours of talk time. It would support QuickCharge 4.0 technology that delivers 60% battery charge in just 30 minutes. The Nokia 9 would also support Qi wireless charging.
The Nokia 9 would have five high-performance microphones capable of recording audio in 24-bit. The spec sheet also suggests that it would have an in-display fingerprint sensor. Synaptics has already developed an optical fingerprint reader called Clear ID FS9500, which has been used by Vivo to launch the world’s first smartphone with an in-display fingerprint reader. It is unclear whether HMD Global would source the optical fingerprint sensor from Synaptics or another company.
HMD Global hasn’t officially confirmed the existence of Nokia 9, so the report should be taken with a pinch of salt. The rumor mill had originally claimed that Nokia 9 would be unveiled at the MWC 2018 in Barcelona, but HMD Global launched the Nokia 8 Sirocco instead. Sources recently told NokiaPowerUser that the Nokia 9 would launch in the third quarter (July-September) of this year. Its launch could happen at the IFA trade show in September. If it happens, the Nokia 9 would compete against the iPhone X successor, Google’s Pixel 3, and Samsung’s Galaxy Note 9 handsets in the second half of the year.
Are you excited about the Nokia 9 triple camera system?
