Declaring your new smartphone the most innovative in the world is a bold statement.
It's particularly ambitious when your shipments are so small in comparison with those of your rivals. But that's just what Nokia did this week when it unveiled its Lumia 925, the latest Windows phone in its product portfolio. Based on a design similar to the Lumia 920, it has some subtle differences.
It’s lighter and thinner for a start, crucial for Nokia, which was criticised on the launch of the 920 for its bulk. The 925 is the first Lumia that brings aluminium to the phone body, which the company says will improve antenna performance and helps contribute to its lighter frame.
The camera has also been an area of focus for Nokia, with a sixth lens added to the device to help improve its image quality and its low light capability. The camera resolution is 8.7 megapixels, still below the 13 megapixels of some of its rivals, but Nokia is confident that the difference in image quality will be enough to sway consumers.
The screen stays the same size, but Nokia has swapped to a new display, which makes it brighter, and ensures it’s still sensitive enough to use while wearing gloves. Wireless charging is also possible through snap-on sleeves, enabling the phone to lose even more unnecessary bulk.
Nokia is aiming the 925 at a more premium audience as it aims to edge its shipment figures higher. Despite some reservations among industry figures and even among Nokia’s shareholders, the company is betting a lot on the Lumia strategy.
Jo Harlow, head of smart devices with Nokia, said: "The smartphone market is extremely competitive, That's why differentiation is so important. It gives consumers a reason to buy your product."
Nokia shipped more than 5 million Lumia handsets in the first quarter of the year and the figure is growing steadily.
However, there still much ground to make up, and it’s not yet clear if Nokia’s unique selling point – its camera and location-based technology – is enough to persuade consumers to jump platform.
“Nokia has been quite successful pushing great camera and video technology into their smartphones,” said Ilkka Rauvola, an analyst at Danske Bank A/S in Helsinki. “To make themselves stand out even more they need to continue to innovate and drive down the price of the devices so more users around the world can afford them.”
One area Nokia hasn’t tackled is the tablet space; rivals such as Apple, Samsung. HTC and LG have all developed tablets, with varying degrees of success.
Ms Harlow wasn’t ruling it out – she said the company had previously said it was interested in the tablet market – but for now at least, Nokia has no plans to follow its rivals with a solid product announcement.
Ms Harlow was optimistic that Nokia would continue to grow its sales in the coming months, with the new Lumia additions expected to boost numbers.
“We will be seen as an innovator and a challenger,” she said of Nokia’s future. “That’s what we’re focused on internally.”
