Nokia 6 is the brand's first Android smartphone and will be launched by HMD during the first half of 2017. (Photo : YouTube/AndroidPure)
Nokia is taking another shot in the mobile phones market with the launch of the Nokia 6 in China, where both foreign and home-grown brands are scrambling to get a piece of the smartphones pie.
The Nokia 6 from Finnish company HMD Global made a debut at this year's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
It is the first Android smartphone released under the Nokia brand after its team-up with Microsoft in 2014 turned quite unsuccessful. Despite the hype, HMD Global said the device will only be available to Chinese consumers for now.
"We believe that we've had an in-depth understanding of the Chinese market and we've prepared to meet the competitions," HMD CEO Arto Nummela was quoted as saying by China Daily.
"Chinese consumers are very well-educated and they know what they are demanding, their energy impressed me each time I have visited the nation," he added.
The handset adopts a 5.5in full-HD display and 2.5D Gorilla Glass. It runs Android 7.0 Nougat on a Snapdragon 430 processor, and packs 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage. The device also includes a 16MP rear camera and an 8MP front-facing one. It will be sold via JD.com for about $246.
Many have wondered why HMD decided to pick China given its highly saturated smartphones market. In a statement, the company said that its decision to launch in China is "a reflection of the desire to meet the real world needs of consumers in different markets around the world."
"With over 552 million smartphone users in China in 2016, a figure that is predicted to grow to more than 593 million users by 2017, it is a strategically important market where premium design and quality is highly valued by consumers," the company added.
For analysts, this move is also strategic as it can gauge the customers' perception toward a returning brand with lower risks.
"You've got to start somewhere, and introducing one model in one country is much lower risk than, say, multiple models in one country, or one model in multiple markets," Ian Fogg, an analyst at IHS Technology, told Tech Times.
