Nokia is undeniably one of the saddest stories in the tech and mobile phone sector in recent history. A true gadget powerhouse in the late '90s up until the late 2000s, the Nokia brand dominated the cellphone market, until it refused to get with the smartphone program. Microsoft ended up taking over Nokia in 2014 and the company also didn't go very far with the Windows Phone-enabled Lumia series.
2016 is a different story, however, for Nokia. Android Authority reports that HMD Global, one of Nokia's new parent companys that bought it from Microsoft last May, is preparing to make waves next year. HMD Global has teamed up with Mother, a marketing firm that's managed campaigns for brands such as IKEA and Coca-Cola. Nokia Power User also adds reports that HMD Global plans to put out two new smartphones in late 2016 and early 2017; with these rumors, it's very likely that new Nokia phones are on the way.
What will these new Nokia smartphones be? Instead of the failed Symbian and Windows Phone platforms that they tried carrying, this time, rumors state that the new phones will be running on Android 7.0 Nougat. These rumored Nokia phones will have 5.2-inch and 5.5-inch screens and running on a Snapdragon 820 chip, with a 22.6-MP camera. These aren't slouches for sure; if these rumored specs are true, it means Nokia is coming back in a big way with flagship models.
What Nokia needs to do now is to really stand out among the pack. Google's Pixel is a solid entry from the first-party hardware manufacturer, but it's a generic-looking flagship smartphone that's only riding on its brand name. If Nokia's new smartphones could recapture some of its creative magic that drove the brand in the early and mid-2000s, the resurgence could really be complete. This could be great.