Why the intriguing Nokia 9 PureView is on my mind as I head to MWC 2025.

      As you read this, I will be traveling to Barcelona, Spain for the Mobile World Congress 2025, marking my first visit since 2019. This experience will be quite different for me, and as I prepared for the trip, I reflected on my last visit, particularly how nothing from this year seems likely to rival the announcement of one remarkable camera phone—the Nokia 9 PureView.

      Is MWC focused on phones at all?

      Mobile World Congress extends far beyond smartphones; often, they take a back seat to a plethora of other new technologies and products revealed at the event. Huawei frequently uses the show to announce new laptops, Google discusses Android and its software, Samsung hasn't held a major press conference there in years, and Apple does not even participate. While we might associate MWC with smartphones, the truth is they represent only a small part of the overall showcase.

      This has been the case for some time. A decade ago, we awarded our Best of Show to the HTC Vive virtual reality headset. VR dominated the 2015 MWC, just as 5G was the star in 2019, and we anticipate that AI will be the main topic of discussion for MWC 2025 in Spain. Smartphones are merely the vehicles for 5G and AI, often playing a secondary role at the event. Nevertheless, phones are still launched; the Samsung Galaxy S6 was the standout phone at MWC 2015, LG unveiled its unique modular LG G5 the following year, and Huawei presented the P10 in 2017.

      The cameras on these phones sparked plenty of discussions, especially on innovative devices like the Huawei P10, yet they were never the primary selling feature at that time. The technology then was also quite different from what we find in modern flagship models like the Galaxy S25 Ultra today. Had we seen a 200MP camera on a phone during MWC 2015, it would have caused a stir. Nowadays, it's just a mention in a review. However, during my last visit to MWC, one phone made sure to grab the spotlight, primarily due to its camera capabilities.

      One extraordinary camera changed everything

      In 2019, the Nokia brand made a comeback with a flagship phone by HMD Global, which had recently obtained the rights to manufacture Nokia-branded devices. It entered MWC 2019 determined to make a memorable impact with an enticing camera phone called the Nokia 9 PureView.

      It quickly overshadowed the Samsung Galaxy S10 5G's four-camera setup by featuring five 12MP cameras on the back, along with additional sensors bringing the total to seven, all seamlessly integrated into the rear panel. Even today, the phone's design appears striking, particularly because of the small size of its cameras. We are accustomed to large camera modules, periscope zooms, and 1-inch sensors occupying a significant portion of the back panel, making the Nokia 9 PureView’s insect-like appearance quite jarring.

      However, the design was not as unconventional as the camera specifications. It utilized a customized Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 processor along with a component called a Lux Capacitor to optimize camera performance, collaborating with Zeiss and camera company Light to achieve this. Remember Light? It created a multi-lens camera named the L16, and similarly, all the cameras on the Nokia 9 operated simultaneously when capturing a photo. Intelligent software combined images from each lens into a single shot, and since it captured in RAW, photographers could edit their images extensively, just like they would with a DSLR.

      It was unprecedented, but it wasn't specifically targeted at casual users. To truly maximize its potential, one needed a solid understanding of photography and image editing. At that time, avid mobile photographers were flocking to the Google Pixel 3, while the complexity of the Nokia 9 PureView stood out for all the wrong reasons. Yet, that was far from its only issue.

      It should have been successful

      The Nokia 9 PureView was poised to be a major success for HMD Global (now simply HMD, or Human Mobile Devices); however, it turned into a calamity. I distinctly remember being eager to test the camera during my trip to Taipei, Taiwan, but all I can recall is that it was nearly unusable. The camera application was exceedingly slow, some photos took ages to process or failed to capture altogether, and any attempts in the editing mode resulted in the phone freezing. That was assuming the fingerprint sensor unlocked the phone at all.

      I was fortunate compared to some, as others who purchased the limited edition phone encountered additional problems, such as poor overall performance and complete failures of the camera app. One buyer even took to Reddit, posting about their experience in a thread titled “Nokia 9 PureView my worst purchase ever.”

      The device's unreliability was not a good look for HMD Global, which was striving to court Nokia enthusiasts. Sadly, the Nokia 9 PureView was