Nokia confirms the launch of a new mid-range handset at an event in Taiwan

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HMD Global is reportedly set to launch a new mid-range smartphone at an event in Taiwan on April 2. According to the invite published by HMD, the handset in question is the new Nokia X71 and will likely be a successor to the Nokia 8.1.

The Finnish telecommunication giant was set to reveal a successor to the mid-range Nokia 8.1 (rumoured Nokia 8.1 Plus) at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona back in February. However, Nokia’s plans didn’t materialise, and the company only announced their flagship Penta-camera handset alongside a couple of budget smartphones at the event.

MWC 2019 has long since passed, and the Finnish giant seems set to unveil the successor to their mid-range 8.1 handset as the Nokia X71 smartphone. The phone will debut alongside Nokia’s flagship PureView smartphone at an event in Taiwan.

Nokia X71 is expected to replace the Nokia 8.1 Plus and is likely to feature a 48-megapixel primary camera with a Zeiss sensor. Considering the dual-camera setup on the Nokia 8.1, the X71 should feature a dual or triple camera setup with a 120-degree wide-angle lens and a possible telephoto lens in case it gets the 3-camera layout.

The X71 is set to debut in the higher mid-range market space and will likely go head-to-head against Huawei’s Nova 4, Samsung’s A90 and A70 and Vivo’s X27 lineup. HMD Global announced the Nokia 9 PureView with a Snapdragon 845 chipset, which means this 8.1 Plus replacement may see a mid-range Snapdragon chip, most likely the 710 or 712.

Nokia’s new X71 is most likely to get an FHD+ OLED display and may run on the latest Android 9.0 out-of-the-box.