Is This The Return of Nokia? New Phone Shows Up On Benchmarking Site

The sighting a new Nokia phone on a benchmarking site has renewed speculation that the Nokia brand is re-entering the smartphone market.

Although Nokia has declared that Internet of Things (IOT) technology is its focus area, there is hope among fans that a new Nokia phone may make its appearance thanks to a deal signed by the company with a Finnish firm called HMD. HMD has the license to design, manufacture and sell Nokia-branded phones based on the Android OS.

The licensing agreement was signed in May this year, but so far there has been no news from HMD on its plans for launching phones. Several rumors pointed to the development of two high-end smartphones but nothing has been confirmed.

Nokia watchers are aflutter again after a third phone showed up on GeekBench, a benchmarking site.

Named Nokia D1C, the handset operates on Android 7.0 Nougat, featuring a Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 system at 1.4 Ghz with 3 GM RAM. Going by its technical specs and the performance scores, GSMArena speculates that the model is a "mid-range offer".  No other details on the phone specifications such as camera set up or display are known at this point.

According to GSMArena, the idea of a mid-range phone fits in with the earlier news of two premium-end phones, which would round off a launch range.

The available specs for the higher end phones reveal that they will sport a metal finish and will be water and dust resistant, with display sizes being 5.2 inches and 5.5 inches. They are also rumored to have the Nokia's famed focus on cameras, boasting of powerful 22.6MP cameras

Nokia is not directly involved in the production of the phones, but under its agreement, it does have a seat on HMD's board and possibly will be able to influence the use of the brand including quality and design.

HMD is yet to confirm any dates for the release of the Nokia smartphone range, but Nokia Networks' president of China, Mike Wang has reportedly told Chinese media that the phones will be launched by late 2016.

Nokia fans will be keenly watching further developments.