Stuff South Africa

New Nokia C-series smartphones put a new price tag on affordable

Finnish smartphone maker HMD Global, which is licensed to produce Nokia smartphones, has unveiled three new C-series phones at Mobile World Congress (MWC).

The brand new entry-level smartphones include the Nokia C21, C21 Plus, and C2 second edition. The Nokia C-series is known for being durable and affordable. According to the HMD website, “[The] Nokia C-series is the perfect choice for affordable, reliable smartphones.” See? We told you.

Nokia C

Paint me a picture (of this affordable phone)

The Nokia C21 Plus is the series’ most premium device, featuring a metal chassis for durability. It also includes a 6.5 in HD+ display with “toughened cover glass.” It has a UNISOC octa-core chipset, 4GB of RAM, and a choice of 64GB or 128GB of storage. It even comes with a MicroSD slot if you need more space. A 4,000mAh battery keeps it going with Android 11 Go installed, while Android 12 Go is on its way, says Techradar.

The C21 Plus has a dual camera on the back, with a 13MP main sensor and a 2MP depth sensor. For selfies, there’s a 5MP camera on the front with face unlock support. It has 4G LTE connectivity and Bluetooth 4.2. That’s not a bad setup for an affordable smartphone.

How affordable are we talking about here?

It launches in April in the UK at £100, which is about R2,050 (without taxes, but who knows what the Rand is planning in the coming weeks). Although this is the premium C-series Nokia, that is very affordable. Especially with the spec loadout it is boasting.

There’s a reason for that. The battery used a microUSB port and not the more modern USB Type-C we’re all used to. Despite this, it still supports 10W wired charging. To offset the oversight, the C21 Plus includes an IP52 splash-resistance rating.

And the other two Nokias?

The Nokia C21 is much like the Plus, with its 6.5in display with HD+ resolution. It also has the UNISOC octa-core chipset, but only 3GB of RAM and 64GB of onboard storage. The phone has a dual-camera setup on the back with an 8MP main sensor. The C21 also packs a much smaller 3,000mAh battery and only supports 5W charging to the 10W featured in the Plus.

Then, there’s Nokia’s 2nd edition C2. This is the most affordable new phone from the brand, at about R1, 540. Like the first Nokia C2, it has a 5.7in display built into a metal chassis. It features a single 5MP camera on the back and a 2MP cam for selfies on the front. It only packs a 2,400mAh battery with 5W charging. Under the screen, it has a quad-core chipset clocked at 1.5GHz.

Local availability and pricing for these handsets have yet to be confirmed. We’ll update as soon as those details become available.

Mobile World Congress is taking place in Barcelona, Spain. Follow #MWC22 on Twitter for more updates, or hit up @StuffSA on Twitter for more of the same.

Source: Digital Trends

Exit mobile version