TL;DR
- HMD has announced the Skyline smartphone, and it’s the first Android phone to feature Qi2 wireless charging.
- The Skyline also offers an apparently replaceable battery, a 144Hz OLED screen and a flexible rear camera system.
- The phone costs £399.99 (~$520) in the UK, but there’s no word yet on US pricing.
We’ve seen a lot of HMD Skyline leaks over the past few months, suggesting a smartphone with a design vaguely reminiscent of classic Lumia phones. Now the Finnish brand has fully revealed the new Android phone.
Perhaps the most notable thing about the HMD Skyline is that it appears to be the first Android phone to support Qi2 wireless charging. This standard enables magnetic wireless charging similar to Apple’s MagSafe charging feature, allowing for faster, more efficient and cooler wireless charging. More specifically, the new phone supports 15W wireless charging along with 5W reverse wireless charging.
Not interested in wireless charging? You can also choose to charge the 4,600mAh battery with 33W wired charging. Additionally, HMD says the battery is removable, with the promotional video suggesting that the back cover pops out using what looks like a SIM tray eject tool.
The phone also stands out for its hardware design, which features a square body and rounded corners reminiscent of phones like the Nokia Lumia 920. The company adds that the device is designed to be repairable, thanks to a partnership with iFixit. Another notable hardware addition is a remappable button on the left side that lets you launch apps and other functions with a double-tap or press-and-hold.
HMD Skyline: Can you handle the Pixel 8a?
The rest of the HMD Skyline specs reveal an upper mid-range phone. There’s a 6.55-inch 144Hz OLED display (FHD+, 1,000 nit peak brightness), a mid-range Snapdragon 7s Gen 2 chipset, 8GB or 12GB of RAM, and 128GB or 256GB of storage. The phone also comes with a microSD card slot that offers up to 512 GB of extra space.
HMD’s new phone is also the most impressive camera phone the company has made in a long time – at least on paper. This rear camera includes a 108MP main camera with OIS, a 13MP ultra-wide lens and a 50MP 2x telephoto lens (up to 4x). We also have a 50MP selfie camera with autofocus and 4K support.
The HMD Skyline features a so-called “Balance Interface” skin on Android 14. The company claims that this skin offers a Detox mode, which is likely to be filled with digital well-being and system sounds that are “cooler” (e.g. alarm sounds, ringtones, notifications for notice). The former mode is listed as coming soon. Unfortunately, those expecting a great update policy will have to make do with two operating system updates and three years of security patches. This is a real shame when phones from Samsung and Google have five to seven years of updates.
Other notable features include Gorilla Glass 3 on the front (tempered glass on the back), Bluetooth 5.2, IP54 protection, NFC, side-mounted fingerprint sensor, and Wi-Fi 6E.
The HMD Skyline is currently listed on the company’s UK and US websites. The US website doesn’t list prices, but the 8GB/128GB model is available for £399.99 in the UK, while the 12GB/256GB variant will set you back £499.99.
This makes the phone at least £100 cheaper than the Pixel 8a. The HMD brings benefits like Qi2 charging, faster wired charging, bigger battery, telephoto lens and storage expansion. However, Google’s device offers great image processing, decent water resistance, a longer update policy, and a brighter screen. Either way, we’re glad that HMD is once again offering more than just low-end phones.