HMD Global has scheduled a launch event on April 4 in India to launch the new Nokia range of Android smartphones. The company has sent out media invites for an event in New Delhi on April 4, and the invite clearly hints at the arrival of 2018 Nokia devices, which were announced at the MWC 2018 show floor last month. We're expecting the company to launch the Nokia 6 (2018) and Nokia 8 Sirocco at the event along with an announcement about the Nokia 8110 4G feature phone. But we highly doubt the announcement of the Nokia 7 Plus during the event because we haven't seen a single Snapdragon 660 SoC smartphone launching in India. Even though HMD announces the Nokia 7 Plus, it will be made available for purchase only after a month or more than that same as last year's Nokia devices.
The Finnish upstart recently made the Nokia 1 Android Go device official in India with a price tag of Rs 5,499. At that price, the phone will compete with the likes of the Xiaomi Redmi 5A, Tenor D and a couple of other phones from domestic smartphone brands. We're expecting the company to price the upcoming phones on the steeper side, same as what it did last year with the likes of the Nokia 6, Nokia 5, Nokia 3 and the Nokia 2.
The Nokia 6 (2018) could cost around Rs 18,000 in the Indian market for the base variant, whereas the Nokia 7 Plus is expected to start around Rs 23,000 because we have the Nokia 8 flagship smartphone with Snapdragon 835 SoC selling at Rs 28,999. The Nokia 8 Sirocco flagship device could be priced at Rs 39,999 considering the features it offers.
On the whole, it didn't take much longer for HMD to bring the new phones to the Indian market. While it's confirmed that the phones are arriving to the country, we have to wait and see the availability of the devices because last year, HMD announced the first wave of Android-powered Nokia devices in June 2017, but the Nokia 6 was available for purchase in August 2017. But this time around, we're expecting that there won't be any delays as such because the company has reportedly asked Foxconn to ramp up the production of the phones.
The Nokia 8110 4G Banana phone will be launched in collaboration with a telecom operator, mostly, it could be Bharti Airtel itself. HMD is looking to rival JioPhone in the country.
