- HMD has revealed its new Key smartphone at an ultra-low price of £59 (equivalent to around $75 / AU$120)
- The United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand are the first territories to see the phone launched.
- There’s no word on a US release yet.
HMD, the company behind the Nokia phone brand, has launched its new Key smartphone at possibly the lowest price it has ever seen a big-brand phone launch.
The Key costs £59 in the UK and equivalent prices in Australia and New Zealand (according to an official press release). There’s no suggestion of a US release at the moment, although the UK price is around $75.
As users might expect, that low price means the HMD Key can’t offer much in the specs department. It’s one of the least powerful phones on the market, even by budget phone standards, and is clearly intended to be an ultra-low-cost way to access smartphone apps and services.
The Key comes equipped with a 6.52-inch display, with a maximum brightness of 460 nits and a refresh rate of 60 Hz. With a resolution of just 576 x 1280, the pixels are likely to be visible at typical viewing distances .
Internally, you’re looking at a Unisoc 9832E chipset with 2GB of RAM, 32GB of internal storage, and a slot for a microSD card up to 128GB. A 4000mAh battery is impressive at this price, although it only supports 10W trickle charging. HMD claims a possible battery life of 47 hours, and while we haven’t tested it ourselves, it’s a plausible claim given the set of The phone’s low-power chips and low-resolution, low-brightness display.
As for the cameras, there is a single 8MP rear camera and a 5MP selfie camera, with various photo and video modes such as portrait mode, night mode and even slow motion recording.
Even calling the Key an entry point to Android seems disingenuous, as the phone only runs the stripped-down Android 14 Go operating system. HMD has promised security updates for two years, but no OS updates, probably a good thing considering this phone’s minimal hardware. The phone has an IP52 rating against dust and water, meaning it is protected against moderately fine dust but only against splashes of water.
All that said, it’s really encouraging to see that a smartphone with access to apps like WhatsApp and YouTube can be available at this price. The HMD Key is sure to be a valuable option for those looking to spend next to nothing on a smartphone that at least comes from a well-known brand.
And while the Key is understandably one of the least powerful phones on the market, there is a saving grace in the form of a 3.5mm headphone jack; something rare even in the most expensive phones.
HMD has made a name for itself in recent years by pushing the boundaries of affordable smartphone hardware; check out its Fusion modular phone and its serviceable Skyline flagship. The Key seems to carry this experimental spirit as well, only this time it lowers the price as much as possible.
For more news on Nokia’s quirky successor, be sure to stay up to date with our phone coverage.
