Phones for all: the Nokia news from MWC

Microsoft Devices Team

Nokia announces five new phones at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona today. The phones are the Nokia 220, the Nokia Asha 230 and three smartphones in the new Nokia X family: the Nokia X, Nokia X+ and Nokia XL.

With these new devices, Nokia is underscoring its leadership in affordable mobile phones, bridging the gap between its Asha and Lumia families, creating a seamless upgrade path from the lowest to the highest models in its range and introducing millions of new people to Microsoft and Nokia services.

Our new phones

The Nokia 220 is the most affordable internet-ready device in Nokia’s portfolio today, priced at just €29. (Prices exclude any local taxes or operator subsidies). It offers a first experience of internet services, social networks and Bing search, moving Nokia further in its mission to connect the next billion. It will be available for sale immediately.

Read more about the Nokia Asha 230.

Nokia X, Nokia X+ and Nokia XL form a new family of affordable smartphones that offers a better-designed choice for Android apps. They bring together Nokia’s renowned build quality and durability with signature Nokia experiences like HERE Maps and Nokia MixRadio, as well as popular Microsoft services like Skype, OneDrive and Outlook.com.

The popular swipe-based notifications and multitasker, Fastlane, allows fast access to the people, apps and information that are most important to you.

The Nokia X is the entry-level model in the family, will cost €89, and is available immediately.

The Nokia X+ offers more memory and storage for those who want to enjoy even more music, photos and video. It’s priced at €99 and will be available in early Q2 2014.

Finally, the Nokia XL packs a 5-inch screen, 5MP rear-facing and 2MP front-facing camera, great for Skype video calls. It will be priced at €109 and be available in early Q2 2014.

The Nokia X family is priced to compete in the affordable smartphone segment, which is the fastest-growing area of the overall smartphone market. It also offers an on-ramp to Microsoft services and a natural progression to Nokia Lumia over time.

Developers and services

Leading global apps will be available at launch for the Nokia X family of devices, including Facebook, LINE Free Voice and Messages, LINE Camera, LINE Bubble, Picsart, Plants vs. Zombies 2, Real Football 2014, Skype, Spotify, Swiftkey, Twitter, Viber, Vine and WeChat, among others. And in a first for Nokia customers around the world, BBM, a premier mobile messaging platform, will also be available on the Nokia X family of devices in addition to Windows Phone.

With the announcement of the X family, Nokia is also creating even more opportunities for Android developers. Also announced today are extensions to allow them to easily publish their apps to the Nokia Store, and to create new experiences for the Nokia X family using a wide range of new APIs for imaging, entertainment and other services, including operator billing, which takes advantage of Nokia’s agreements with more than 160 operators across 60 markets.

While the bulk of today’s news concerned more affordable devices, at today’s press conference we also announced plenty of news for Windows Phone, the fastest-growing ecosystem in the mobile marketplace and Nokia’s primary smartphone platform.

Partners such as Facebook, BBM, Twitter, LINE, Viber, Electronic Arts, Gameloft and Rovio are making their key apps available across Nokia’s device portfolio of feature phones, Asha, Nokia X and Lumia. Facebook Messenger, a fast, free and reliable way to stay in touch, will also be coming soon across Nokia’s four tiers of products.

We’re here at MWC in Barcelona all week, and will be following up on the news with all the details, interviews, video and exclusive photography.

Let us know what you think of today’s news below.

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