Nokia unveils five new smartphones as it pitches for mid-range market

Company hopes to woo price-conscious users with new C, G and X series

Nokia’s new smartphones: Android devices are competing for the budget and mid-range of the smartphone market.
Nokia’s new smartphones: Android devices are competing for the budget and mid-range of the smartphone market.

Nokia has unveiled five new smartphones in its biggest launch to date, broadening its affordable 5G range and adding more entry-level options for customers.

The phones are organised into three lines: the entry level C Series, the intermediate G Series, and the X Series which benefits from the company's partnerships with Zeiss and Qualcomm at mid-range prices.

The Nokia C20 (€89) runs Android Go, a special version of Android for lower-powered devices that allows the operating system to run 20 per cent faster, a 6.5 inch HD+ display, and quarterly security updates for two years.

The G10 and G20 offer three-day battery life to users, improved security with face and side fingerprint unlock, and 6.5 inch teardrop display. The G10, which costs €119, combines a triple rear camera with shooting modes enhanced by artificial intelligence, while the G20 at €149 comes with a 48MP camera, and OZO surround audio.

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The X20 and X10 are powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 480 5G mobile platform, with a 6.67 inch full HD+ display. The X10 has a 48 megapixel quad camera on the rear of the phone, with a 64 megapixel cameras on the X20 and a 32 megapixel front-facing camera.

Both phones have Android 11 out of the box and come with three years of security and software updates. They are also the most expensive of the new smartphones, at €299 and €349 for the X10 and X20 respectively.

The Android devices, which are made by HMD Global under the Nokia brand, are competing for the budget and mid-range of the smartphone market.

Durability

Nokia is pushing the durability aspects of its devices, promising users that they will last for a couple of years.

"All Nokia phones are put through a tremendous amount of durability tests. So, by the time they are available to purchase, we are fully confident that our fans can trust them to work smoothly in their hands for years," said Ruben Lehmann, vice-president of Europe, HMD Global.

“We understand that there is more that can be done to tackle these issues, which is why we are constantly working to develop our offering and continue building on these initial steps.”

Following in the footsteps of other manufacturers, including Apple and Samsung, Nokia is also ditching wall chargers and headphones from the box to cut down on e-waste.

Ciara O'Brien

Ciara O'Brien

Ciara O'Brien is an Irish Times business and technology journalist