The new Nokia 6 recently surfaced in a white avatar in the Philippines, sparking hopes of a new color option and a potentially global release.
As it turns out, however, none of it is true and Hellotronics, the seller that listed the white Nokia 6 on shopping platform Lazada, is not an authorized vendor. The Nokia 6 is still exclusive to China and it still comes in just one color option - black.
White Nokia 6 In The Philippines
While the white Nokia 6 listing on Lazada stirred quite some hype, especially since it seemed that the smartphone would be available outside of China after all, the communications director of HMD Global, Nokia's new parent company, has put rumors to rest.
"We haven't launched Nokia 6 in Philippines market," the director tells GSM Arena. "The seller is a third-party retailer on [the] Lazada platform and is not an authorized seller."
Not only did the director deny the availability of the Nokia 6 in the Philippines, but it seems the white avatar was a mistake as well. The listing has since been changed and the smartphone now appears in a black color option. At the time of writing, the Nokia 6 is listed as "Sold Out - In Stock Soon" on Lazada, indicating that although the retailer is not authorized to sell the device, it may still add some more units.
China-Only Nokia 6
The Nokia 6 launched in China at CNY 1,699 (roughly $247) and it proved to be immensely popular from the start. The budget-friendly price tag and the good specs for its category turned the smartphone into an instant hit and the Nokia 6 sold out in just one minute during the first flash sale.
Hellotronics, meanwhile, listed the Nokia 6 at a PHP 18,590 price point, which would translate to roughly $370. That's notably more expensive than the smartphone's price in China, but the "Sold Out" label indicates it was successful nonetheless.
Nokia 6 Specs
As a reminder, the Nokia 6 features a 5.5-inch full HD display (1,080p), an octa-core 64-bit Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 processor, an Adreno 505 GPU, 4 GB of RAM, and 64 GB of internal storage.
In a nutshell, the processor and graphics are not very exciting, but the amount of RAM and storage are quite impressive for a budget device.
The Nokia 6 further sports a 16-megapixel rear camera, an 8-megapixel front shooter, dual SIM support, a fingerprint scanner, stereo speakers, and a 3,000 mAh battery to keep it all up and running. On the software front, the handset comes with the latest Android 7.0 Nougat out of the box.
There's no official confirmation yet on when or if the Nokia 6 will make it outside of China, but there's a good chance the smartphone may never reach other territories. Nevertheless, HMD plans to launch a number of other Nokia-branded smartphones and at least some of them should see a global release.
HMD has the rights to launch devices under the Nokia brand for the next decade, so we're bound to see more Nokia Android smartphones hit the scene from now on. A Nokia flagship with the powerful Snapdragon 835 processor is also in tow and should arrive later this year, but not at the upcoming Mobile World Congress 2017. A massive Nokia tablet with a whopping 18.4-inch screen has also been spotted recently, but no official confirmation is available yet.
As always, take all unofficial leaks, rumors, listings and reports with a hefty grain of salt. As for the popular Nokia 6, don't hold your breath for an international launch.
