Nokia Could be Launching a New Rugged Phone Soon

Rugged Android phones aren’t anything new – in fact, we’ve seen a new onslaught of durably-designed smartphones from a number of big-name brands such as Motorola for example, with other OEMs such as Samsung and Nokia coming out with their own devices.

With regards to the latter, Nokia launched a rugged Android phone in the form of the Nokia XR20 a couple of years back, a handset which featured a rather hefty and heavy-duty design and featured some admittedly “entry-level” hardware specifications. And while Nokia has taken its time with introducing a new rugged Android phone, it looks like things are about to change soon, based on some new leaks online.

The leaked photos and hardware details point to an upcoming Android phone from the Finnish smartphone manufacturer. Initially known as the “Nokia Sentry” (and almost the Nokia XR30), the handset is currently known as the Nokia XR21 and carries some similarities and upgrades in comparison to its predecessor. Let’s check it out!

Design and Display

As far as looks go, the Nokia XR21 takes a lot of visual cues from the XR20, mostly in the way that the phone is built on the outside. While the camera module and several of the visual elements have been shuffled around, the phone comes with an overall similar look especially with the thick bezels, textured rear panel and sides, as well as the polycarbonate shell which is designed to withstand its fair share of damage including knocks and bumps.

The phone features a 6.49-inch display upfront, which is surrounded by the rather wide bezels, an understandable choice given the entire purpose of the phone. The display is expected to come with a 2400×1080 pixel resolution, as well as a 120hz refresh rate. it should be noted that the display is an LCD panel, so there’s no OLED or AMOLED tech involved here, at least according to the current leaks. Other screen details include Gorilla Glass Victus, which is certainly a nice addition to the hardware set.

The rear panel looks to be textured, similar to the XR20. The phone will also come with the usual array of volume and power buttons, a USB-C charging port, and there are reports of a 3.5mm headphone jack in the mix.

Internal Hardware and Cameras

While the phone goes overboard on the rugged aspect of its design, one aspect that it somewhat falls short of is the internal hardware and processing power. Granted, the main concept behind this phone is its durability and toughness, but a bit more processing power would have been appreciated.

We say “would have been appreciated” because the leaks point to a fairly unimpressive processor inside the phone, in the form of the Qualcomm Snapdragon 695 5G, the same chip inside the Nokia X30. While it isn’t a terrible chip on its own (and a definite upgrade to the Snapdragon 4-series chip on the XR20), it’s not exactly a premium chipset, although we go back to the entire point behind this phone. The same can be said of the 6GB of RAM, which in this day and age is a bit more on the “average” side of things.

Other hardware specs included in the leak point to 128GB of internal storage, a 4,800 mAh battery, and a dual-camera setup on the rear panel which includes a 64MP main camera, as well as a secondary 8MP camera. There’s a 16MP lens in front for selfies and video calls as well. As for software, the phone might come with Android 12, and will come with software and security updates for four years.

Availability

At this moment the phone isn’t “officially” acknowledged or announced by Nokia, although it’s expected that the XR21 might be priced at $499 with black and green colour variants, placing it against other midrangers such as the upcoming Pixel 7a from Google. No specific release date has been given either, but we might see that change soon.