Nokia C12 Unveiled With Ancient Design and Specs; HD+ LCD, Solo Camera, & Aged 28nm SoC

Sohail Akhtar

While Nokia dominates the Symbian keypad phone market, it keeps failing to produce up-to-date smartphones in mid-range and flagship segments. As a result of this shift, the chain now specializes in low-end budget phones. The strategy is likely working. Another low-end device just entered its catalog under the title "Nokia C12."


It takes the helm of Nokia's C10, the precursor, and improves its overall specifications. Nokia C12 has a better display, enhanced RAM, and an upgraded operating system. Here's its in-depth review.

In appearance, C12 looks exceptionally old. It screams 2015, with a single-camera unit on the back, chunky bezels, a speaker mounted on the back, and the ancient micro-USB port. It has a bulging camera island on a chamfered polycarbonate backplate with an IP52 rating. 


Nokia C12 measures 8.75mm in thickness and 177 grams in heft. With a 6.3" IPS LCD, The new addition to the Nokia price list boasts an HD+ resolution at a 60Hz refresh rate with a bulky chin and a water drop patch to hide the selfie camera.


A Unisoc SC9863A1 engine that is a 28nm out-of-date chipset clocks inside the phone with eight Cortex-A55 cores (4x 1.6GHz + 4x 1.2GHz) and a PowerVR IMG 8322 GPU powering the graphics. It lacks the power to run a full-featured Android, so it uses a lighter Android 12 Go edition. C12 holds 2Gigs of physical RAM and doubles it with virtual memory borrowed from the storage.


Since C12 falls in the low-end segment, Its cameras do not impress. It only has two sensors in total, one for selfies which is 5MP, and the primary unit on the back is 8MP. AI implementation on the camera helps with portraits and night shots. 

Energized by a 3000mAh battery and 5W charging, Nokia C12 sports a headphone plug, 4G connectivity, Wi-Fi b/g/n, and Bluetooth 5.2. With its current retail in Austria and Germany, C12's solo configuration of 2GB + 64GB costs ~130$ or ~PKR 30,000. The C31, the latest model in the brand's portfolio, is also an affordable option to look at. Nokia C31 retail price in Pakistan is PKR 27,999.