Nokia Time To Die: Bond-themed Nokia phone teased for March 19 launch

Because MWC 2020 was cancelled, loads of phone companies have been hosting replacement events to launch their new smartphones, and now we know when Nokia is set to show off its new phones.

According to the 'save the date' sent around by the company, which you can see above, the product launch will happen on March 19 at 4pm GMT (11am ET, 8am PT). TechRadar has been invited to an event in London, and it seems other press outlets have too, but we're not sure if this is the global launch or just a European event, so there could be others around the world at the same time.

• Check out our Nokia 9 PureView review
• These are the best Nokia phones
• This is how to watch the Bond movies in order

We were expecting to see the Nokia 10 launch at MWC as well as a few mid-range and/or budget devices, and there could be a clue confirming such phones in the invite: a recent leaked render for the former (although that refers to the Nokia 9.2, which could be the Nokia 10 – we're not sure as to the nomenclature just yet) showed a circular camera bump, which looks a lot like the white circle at the top of the invite.

However, that white circle, the only distinguishing feature in an otherwise-minimalist flyer, could point to something else entirely...

Is it the new Bond phone?

Bond fans will be familiar with the 'gun barrel' opening sequence, which features a series of animated white circles, one of which becomes the barrel of a gun trained on Bond – Bond then spins round and dispatches the would-be assassin.

Those white circles look just like the ones on the flyer. Does that sound pretty tentative? It would be if Juho Sarvikas, Chief Product Officer for HMD Global (Nokia's parent company) hadn't explicitly stated they were linked, in a tweet that also features animated circles.

In a tweet, Sarvikas both linked the Nokia phone save-the-date with the iconic Bond intro, and also (almost) named the upcoming 007 movie No Time To Die, tweeting 'No time to wait'. So it's certain that the Nokia event will feature something related to James Bond, or the upcoming film.

So what could this mystery Bond tie-in be? Could it be a phone with 007 branding, along the lines of other movie tie-in devices (like the OPPO F11 Pro Marvels Avengers Limited Edition), or a device full of Bond-like gadgets? Or perhaps a new rugged device, hardy for a spy in the field, or an appropriately elegant flip-phone? Right now, we don't know.

We'll find out come March 19, when the Nokia event takes place. TechRadar will be on the ground reporting on all the announcements, so stay tuned to find out all about the new Nokia phones.

A note of caution though: on the same day Nokia sent around its invite, both Redmi and Realme cancelled phone launches due to coronavirus concerns, so it remains to be seen if Nokia's event will actually go ahead.

• Android may soon come to a feature phone thanks to Nokia