Nokia to launch two Android 7.0 smartphones within months

Sources suggest a planned launch for the high-end devices by the end of the year

Nokia is set to make a comeback in smartphones with the release of two high-end Android 7.0 Nougat devices, according to reports.

The company's return to mobile devices, following the sale of its mobile hardware division to Microsoft in 2013, is a fairly open secret. The company revealed in May that it has signed an exclusive agreement with HMD Global, a new company also based in Finland, to create Nokia-branded mobile phones and tablets for the next 10 years.

But Nokia's comeback might be coming in just a few months' time, according to NokiaPowerUser, which has heard that the company is plotting the launch of two high-end Android 7.0 smartphones by the end of this year, or in the first quarter of 2017 at the latest.

The website's "trusted sources" suggested that the two unnamed devices will have premium metal designs complete with IP68 certification, which means they'll be as water resistant as the Galaxy S7.

The report also claimed that the devices will offer "the famous Nokia feel", which we guess points to brightly coloured options.

Expect 5.2-inch and 5.5-inch QHD screens, according to the anonymous sources, along with fingerprint scanners and "innovations" in the camera department.

"We hear that sensors on these two smartphones may be the most sensitive ever and will be based on Nokia's extensive research on wonder material graphene," the report said.

The two smartphones also look set to run Google's Android 7.0 Nougat software, providing features such as split-screen mode, enhanced notifications and improved gaming thanks to support for the Vulkan API.

The devices will reportedly come topped with Nokia's Z-Launcher software, as seen on the Nokia N1 tablet. Improvements to the skin could bring "elements of touch and hover interaction", hinting that the devices could offer 3D Touch-like technology.

We don't know much else yet, but Gizmodo China reported that the smartphones will use Qualcomm's Snapdragon 820 chip.

There's no word on prices yet, but Gizmodo's report claimed that the bigger, and presumably more expensive, model will cost around $500 SIM-free.