14 DAY TRIAL // Nokia 8 is HMD Global’s big bet in the flagship phone market, but with the device coming with just 4GB RAM and 64GB storage, many have criticized the company for not offering more hardware options, especially given the dual camera capable of 4K video and high-quality pics.
HMD Global’s chief product officer Juho Sarvikas admitted in an interview that while more storage on such a device would have been nice, going for a lineup that includes several storage choices can be overwhelming and in the end cause supply issues.
“We want to stay focused with one broad configuration on the global market. The problem with too many configurations is that you then stumble with availability,” he was quoted as saying, explaining that no other hardware upgrades are planned right now for this particular model.
While launching more storage choices for a high-end smartphone is something that several companies have already pledged to, Nokia appears to be playing the safe card this time and use available resources in the most efficient way.
4GB RAM is all you need
As far as a possible RAM upgrade is concerned, Sarvikas explained that you don’t actually need more RAM than 4GB because most Android apps in the Google Play Store are perfectly optimized for this configuration.
“Sure in China, where it is the wild, wild West and there’s no official Google Play store and apps are behaving badly, having more RAM on board could make sense. But any app with Google Play Store won’t be consuming so much RAM and a user typically won’t have so many issues. The benefits of having the extra RAM would be marginal,” he said.
More recently, rumors of a possible 6GB RAM version of the Nokia 8 made the rounds, with HMD said to be considering launching an upgraded configuration in specific markets, like China and the United States. No specifics were provided as to when this model could see daylight, but sources have hinted it could be "later this year."