Leaks from different sources have been suggesting that Nokia may be thinking of getting back into the game. Early this year, TheVerge reported that CEO Rajeev Suri and Nokia are thinking of releasing smartphones again.
However, fans of the brand would need to wait as the company entered into an agreement with Microsoft to not brand smartphones with the Nokia name for at least two years, in essence to halt production. The agreement will last until Dec. 31 this year. This means that by next year, Nokia could again conceptualize and develop its own line of smartphones and release their products by late 2016 or early 2017.
Fans became excited when the rumor mills produced renders purported to be Nokia's entry (or re-entry) into the smartphone market. Dubbed as the C1, the smartphone is reported to be the very first Nokia product to run on Android Marshmallow. Specs-wise, the C1 is allegedly coming with a 5.0-inch display with 1080p resolution, and at least 400 ppi pixel density. The Nokia C1 is also purported to carry an Intel Atom processor with at least 2 GB of RAM.
However, the renders were dispelled as fan-made images rather than leaked pictures from the Finnish company. According to TheVerge, the rendered images are part of fan Kim Wayne's portfolio.
There was a time when the mobile industry was dominated by one name, that of Nokia. Considered a pioneer in the mobile phone industry, the Finland-based tech giant was the brand that launched some revolutionary and ground-breaking mobile handsets.
However, with the advent of competitors such as Apple Inc. and Samsung entering the mobile phone market, Nokia's mobile market share became a shadow of its former self, prompting the company to first regulate then subsequently discontinue the lineups for its mobile phone business arm.
