The quietly announced Nokia X5 features a 5.8″ screen and a notch

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No flashy events needed by HMD Global to announce their latest in the ever-growing stable of “pure Android” smartphones carrying the Nokia badge. With Samsung’s gala Unpacked event still a dot on the horizon, the OEM unveils the Nokia X5, it’s second notch-including handset.

The Nokia X5 might be slated for the Chinese market only, but rumors are saying that it will turn up on the international market as the Nokia 5.1 Plus.

You’d be forgiven for thinking that the lower number means that it won’t be as capable as the Nokia X6. You’d also be partly right, even though the screen is slightly bigger at 5.86-inches vs the 6X’s 5.8-inches, the new Nokia has a lower resolution of 1520 x 720 pixels in a 19:9 screen ratio.

Under the hood, they’re pretty close in performance, with a MediaTek Helio P60 processor with four 2.0 GHz Cortex-A73 cores and four 2.o GHz Cortex A53 cores, in the popular bigLITTLE config.

RAM options include 3 or 4 GB, and storage-wise there are options for 32 or 64GB. The battery is a good size at 3,060mAH and it runs Android 8.1. That’s good news for updates, as it means Project Treble compatibility for quicker bugfixes and features.

The camera on the X5 sounds pretty run-of-the-mill, with a 13-megapixel and 5-megapixel pairing on the back, and an 8-megapixel selfie shooter with AI-enabled bokeh for portraits.

Starting at 999 RMB ($149) for the 3GB RAM / 32 GB storage config and 1,399 RMB ($208) for the 4 GB RAM / 64 GB storage version, the phone looks like it will be very affordable. We do not currently have any information as to when (if at all) it will launch as the Nokia 5.1 Plus or if it will ever make it to the USA.

As always, we’ll bring you more news as we get it.

Would you return to Nokia? Let us know in the comments.

For more mobile news, check out:

• To meet price expectations, it looks like BlackBerry is releasing a slimmed-down Key2
• Good things come in threes and a new leak might confirm three new iPhones
• New rumors about Samsung’s Galaxy Tab S4 reveals no home button and a 12-megapixel camera

Joe Rice-Jones

Maker, meme-r, and unabashed geek with nearly half a decade of blogging experience at KnowTechie, SlashGear and XDA Developers. If it runs on electricity (or even if it doesn't), Joe probably has one around his office somewhere, with particular focus in gadgetry and handheld gaming. Shoot him an email at joe@knowtechie.com.