Nokia’s XR20 was the first rough Android smartphone from the brand. In our Review, we praised it for its unique rugged qualities, but it fell short of expectations when it came to its performance and imaging capabilities compared to other premium smartphones in the same price bracket. Nearly two years later, there’s finally news of a successor. While it was earlier rumored to be the Nokia XR30, the latest leak from the same source now confirms that it will be called the Nokia XR21.
According to winfuture, which leaked the first images of the upcoming smartphone, the handset will be called the Nokia XR21. The phone is said to retain its rugged design like its successor but is expected to pack some noticeable performance improvements that one can expect given its premium price tag.
The leaked images suggest a design that looks similar to the older Nokia XR20 from the front. The Google Assistant button is seen on the left, while the volume and power buttons (which also double up as the fingerprint reader) are positioned on the right as before. It appears that the location of the emergency key has changed slightly on the Nokia XR21 and it is now centrally located on the top edge instead of the left corner like the Nokia XR20.
As per the leaked renders, the rear panel of the Nokia XR21 seems to be made of the same polymer composite material as before, but the frame around the side has a grippy texture compared to the flat and matte-finished sides. Nokia XR20, This is the reason why it is said to be as heavy as the previous model at 235 grams. What is different is the design and placement of the rear camera module. The camera module seems to have moved from the top center to the top left and is seen with a rectangular layout instead of the square layout on the older model.
The report suggests that the Nokia XR21 may feature a 6.49-inch full-HD+ display, which seems slightly smaller than the previous model, and a 120Hz screen refresh rate, which is new to the series. The display is said to be protected by Victus Gorilla Glass, which remains the same as before.
Nokia’s XR21 is reported to be powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 695 SoC, which should be a noticeable upgrade over the Snapdragon 480 SoC in the previous model. According to the leak, there appears to be only one variant for now and it has 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. All the cameras seem to have got an upgrade too. The phone is said to pack a 64-megapixel primary camera that is reportedly powered by OmniVision, and an 8-megapixel telephoto with up to 8X hybrid zoom. The 16-megapixel front-facing camera is tipped to be in charge of selfies.
The Nokia XR21 is said to pack a 4,800mAh battery, an upgrade from the previous model’s 4,630mAh unit, along with a 33W fast charger. It is unclear whether Nokia has retained or removed the XR20’s wireless charging feature in the new model, but according to the report, buyers will get Bluetooth 5.1, NFC, Wi-Fi 6, and a 3.5mm headphone port. The phone offers two NanoSIM slots while running on Android 12 and also has eSIM functionality.
While the above information seems quite detailed for a regular leak, it is a leak nonetheless, and hence we would advise our readers to take it with a pinch of salt till the launch, given the nature of this detailed leak. Should be Quick.