Nokia to launch a 5G phone with Snapdragon 765 SoC, Zeiss Optics next year

HMD Global’s 2020 plans were announced by Juho Sarvikas at the Qualcomm Tech Summit in Hawaii

Juho Sarvikas speaking at the Qualcomm Tech Summit in Hawaii (Twitter)

HMD Global has big plans on the 5G front for next year and they are going to be relying on Qualcomm's new chipsets for it. The company's Chief Product Officer Juho Sarvikas announced on the first day of the Qualcomm Tech Summit that they are soon going to launch a 5G smartphone that will come with the Snapdragon 765 SoC under the hood.

HMD Global is opting for the mid-range 5G-ready SoC, the 765 comes with an integrated Snapdragon X52 5G modem, for its upcoming Nokia-branded phone instead of the flagship Snapdragon 865 that Qualcomm also launched alongside the 765. The 865 does not have an integrated 5G modem so HMD Global's decision actually makes sense.

Sarvikas shared a teaser image of the upcoming phone that shows a curved rear panel with a glossy copper finish, a side-mounted fingerprint sensor below the volume rocker and a circular camera module on the back.

He also added that they will be using their in-house Zeiss camera technology in the device that's already been used in a number of other Nokia phones. The smartphone will also come with PureDisplay technology that supports HDR10 video playback support, SDR to HDR upscaling using a dedicated 16-bit engine and with the Snapdragon 765 powering it, the phone might also come with 4K HDR video recording support.

"Our highest priority for 2020 is making 5G more accessible - bringing an affordable yet premium grade, future proof 5G experience for the best possible performance in NSA and SA networks with the Snapdragon 765 Mobile Platform," Sarvikas said.

This hints towards the fact that the new Nokia device will offer dual-mode 5G (SA+NSA support). If older leaks are anything to go by, the new phone Nokia is talking about could be the Nokia 8.2.