HMD Global will soon offer a 5G-ready smartphone in the US. Today, the Finnish company which has been making handsets with the Nokia name since 2016 confirmed that its Nokia 8.3 5G ‘flagship’ will be offered Stateside sometime “this autumn.” For now, the smartphone maker is staying tight-lipped about the exact launch date, the various configurations and pricing, and whether any carriers will be stocking it.
The 8.3 5G is on the upper end of the mid-range category. It comes with a 6.8″ 1080p display, a Snapdragon 765G, a quad-rear camera setup including a 64MP main sensor, a 24MP hole-punch front camera, and a 4,500mAh battery. It also has a power button-mounted fingerprint sensor, USB-C, a headphone jack, NFC, and a dedicated Assistant button. It comes in 6GB/64GB (€599) and 8GB/128GB (€649) variants in Europe, though we’re not sure if both will make it here.
HMD hasn’t announced pricing or availability beyond saying it would arrive “this autumn,” which means we can expect it to hit US shores in between two and five months. For what it’s worth, the 8.3 5G will be making an appearance in the upcoming Bond film, scheduled to release in November of this year, so if you’ve always wanted to use the same equipment as 007 but can’t quite afford an Aston Martin or Omega Speedmaster, now’s your chance.
The Nokia 8.3 5G was announced in March alongside HMD Global’s mid-range 5.3 and low-end 1.3 smartphones. The company claimed the 8.3 5G was “the first global flagship smartphone” because of its extensive compatibility with 5G networks around the world. The phone’s beating heart is the Snapdragon 765G, the first Qualcomm processor to integrate a 5G modem. The part was new and unusual back in March, but since then we’ve handled a few other phones, including the LG Velvet and OnePlus Nord, that use the same silicon. The latter isn’t coming to the US, so HMD Global’s main competition should be LG’s surprisingly stylish mid-ranger.
