It’s Official: New Nokia Smartphones Out in 2017

After months of rumors and speculation about Nokia's return to the mobile phone market, the company itself has given the confirmation. Nokia has announced that its new smartphones will be released in 2017.

On its web site, Nokia says it is opening up new possibilities for billions of people. "And we're just getting started, with new smartphones coming in 2017," it says. Nokia says it is currently busy working on the smartphones, which will be powered by Google's Android operating system.

The company has yet to announce an exact date for the smartphones' launch. Reuters reports, however, that HMD Global wants to release the first new Nokia smartphone early next year.

HMD Global, which took over Nokia Corp.'s phone business from Microsoft, wants to be a key player in the smartphone business, its CEO Arto Nummela told Reuters. Once out in the market, Nokia's smartphones will have to compete in an industry currently dominated by Apple and Samsung.

The mobile phone industry used to be Nokia's turf, but it failed to shift to creating smartphones. In 2014 Nokia focused on manufacturing mobile phone equipment and sold its handset division to Microsoft.

There have been reports that Nokia will unveil the first of its new smartphones at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain early next year, where Nokia CEO Rajiv Suri will be a keynote speaker. That smartphone is believed to be the Nokia DC1, whose rumored features include an Android Nougat 7.0 operating system, a 1.4-gigahertz Snapdragon 430 processor, and 16-megapixel camera.

Reports also have it that it will have 3 GB of RAM, an internal memory of 16 or 32 GB, and a 5.5-inch display. However, Nokia has yet to announce specific details about its new smartphones, which will mark its attempt to return to and retake the market it left for years.