Nokia, the Finland based mobile phone manufacturer, has launched a new Lumia smartphone that has a bigger screen than its low-priced predecessor does.
The launch took place on Tuesday aiming to lessen the gap between Nokia and Samsung, the market leader, which currently sells a wide range of handsets in different sizes.
The latest Nokia smartphone the Lumia 625 has a screen that is 4.7 inches in size and will cost just $285 or 220 euros. Its predecessor, the Lumia 620, which was launched in late 2013, has a screen that is 3.8 inches in size.
The Finland based mobile handset maker was once the producer of over 33% of all the world’s mobile phones, but now trails Samsung, the South Korea based electronics giants, which owns over 25% of the market, compared to just 15% by Nokia.
While normal mobile phones are the bulk of shipments for most mobile handset makers, smartphones have become crucial for a company’s long-term survival since they carry larger margins and the demand has increased for access to the Internet on mobile talking devices.
Nokia’s management is pinning its hopes for a big comeback in the Microsoft Windows Phone, an OS that has struggled trying to compete with the popular Android system from Google, that is used by electronics giant Samsung.
In early July, Lumia was received enthusiastically by tech bloggers, saying the camera was the market’s highest quality.
However, analysts have questioned if that phone was sufficient to help Nokia, which is suffering from a drop in its cash reserves thanks to years of sales that have dropped, to survive.
