The company’s first rugged Android smartphone was the XR20 from Nokia. In our review, we praised it for its distinctive rugged features, but when compared to other premium smartphones in the same price range, the device fell short in terms of performance and imaging capabilities. Finally, after almost two years, a successor has been announced. The latest leak from the same source confirms that it will be called the Nokia XR21 rather than the earlier-speculated Nokia XR30.
The Nokia XR21 will be the name of the upcoming smartphone, according to a report that contained the first images of the device. The phone is rumored to keep the same ruggedized design as its predecessor, but it’s also expected to have some noticeable performance upgrades that should, hopefully, justify its high price.
The leaked pictures portray a design that, from the front, is strikingly reminiscent of the earlier Nokia XR20. Like before, the volume and power buttons (which also serve as the fingerprint reader) are on the right side, with the Google Assistant button visible on the left. On the Nokia XR21, the location of the Emergency key appears to have changed a little; it is now situated in the middle of the top edge rather than in the left corner like it was on the Nokia XR20.
In accordance with the leaked renderings, the Nokia XR21’s rear panel appears to be made of the same polymer composite material as before, but the sides’ frame appears to have been given a grippy texture as opposed to the flat, matte-finished sides of the Nokia XR20. For this reason, it is also claimed to weigh 235g, which is the same as the previous model. The placement and design of the rear camera module are different. In contrast to the older model’s square layout, the camera module appears to have been moved to the top left from the top center.
According to the report, the Nokia XR21 may have a 6.49-inch full-HD+ display, which would be a little smaller than the display on the previous model but new for this series, and a 120Hz screen refresh rate. Gorilla Glass Victus, which is still present, is said to shield the display.
A Qualcomm Snapdragon 695 SoC is said to power Nokia’s XR21, which should be a noticeable improvement over the Snapdragon 480 SoC in the prior model. According to the leak, there appears to be just one variant at this time, and it has 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. It appears that all cameras have received upgrades as well. The phone is rumored to have an Omnivision-made 64-megapixel primary camera as well as an 8-megapixel telephoto lens with an 8X hybrid zoom. It is anticipated that the front-facing camera will have a resolution of 16 megapixels.
The Nokia XR21 is said to have a 4,800mAh battery, an improvement over the 4,630mAh battery in the previous model, as well as a quicker 33W charger. The report states that buyers will receive Bluetooth 5.1, NFC, Wi-Fi 6, and a 3.5mm headphone port but it’s unclear whether Nokia has kept or removed the wireless charging feature from the XR20. The phone is anticipated to run Android 12 and has two nanoSIM slots as well as eSIM functionality.
Although the aforementioned details appear to be fairly comprehensive for a leak, it is still a leak, so we caution our readers to treat them with caution until the launch, which, given the nature of this comprehensive leak, should happen soon.
Read more: Redmi Note 12R Pro, Scheduled to Launch on April 29