The Android-powered Nokia 7 will launch on a global level in early 2018, according to latest rumors from China, with sources claiming the international variant of HMD Global’s most powerful mid-ranger to date will be identified by the model number TA-1041. Originally announced in October, the Nokia 7 is still sold only in the Far Eastern country and is getting close to enjoying an exclusivity period as long as the one attached to the Nokia 6, HMD’s first 2017 smartphone which also debuted in China months before expanding its availability to more markets around the world.
The Finnish phone vendor is already rumored to be preparing for a global launch of two new Android offerings in the first quarter of 2018, with recent reports suggesting both the Nokia 8 (2018) and Nokia 9 will be officially debuting in the coming weeks. A number of sources previously claimed HMD already scheduled a product event on January 19th and while a simultaneous unveiling of three devices may seem like a lot, if the Nokia 7 is truly set to expand its availability next month, it’s more likely to be featured at the reported happening than both of HMD’s other rumored handsets together seeing how the Nokia 9 and Nokia 8 (2018) are understood to be competing in the same high-end range, i.e. feature price tags north of $500. Likewise, even though a major product announcement held so close to a massive trade show like CES 2018 opposes industry conventions, HMD already opted for a similar launch strategy with the Nokia 8 which was unveiled just two weeks before IFA 2017 started this summer.
The Nokia 7 is understood to be performing extremely well in China, having amassed 1.5 million registrations even before going on sale in the country this fall. Starting at the equivalent of $375 and featuring hardware like the Snapdragon 630, 4GB of RAM, and 64GB of internal flash memory, the device ended up positioning itself as one of the best offerings in the local mid-range market segment as far as the price-to-value ratio is concerned. A model with 6GB of RAM was also introduced in China carrying a price tag of approximately $400, though it’s still unclear whether both will end up being sold outside of the Asian country. HMD is also expected to announce a number of more affordable Android mid-rangers over the course of 2018, starting with the Nokia 6 (2018) which is rumored to debut at MWC 2018 in late February.