The expectations are high for HMD Global's upcoming smartphone flagship, the Nokia 9, which is expected to drop later this year. The Finnish tech firm who revitalized the Nokia line has recently launched new high-end phones at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) earlier this month, boasting powerful specs and sophisticated design. To top all the premium handsets that predeced it, the Nokia 9 is rumored to have an in-display fingerprint sensor, as well as a notch display similar to the iPhone X.

The Nokia 9 is expected to be among the first smartphones to feature an in-display fingerprint reader. According to NokiaPowerUser, a reliable source from China has tipped that the optical under-display sensors for the handset are already underway. There is no word yet regarding the supplier of the in-display components to be used in the Nokia 9, although it is likely that the parts will be ready just in time for the smartphone's launch in the last months of 2018.

Earlier specs leaks of the Nokia 9 have already suggested that the smartphone would have the fingerprint reader embedded right under the display panel, rather than placing it near the rear camera module. Handset makers have started to relocate the fingerprint sensor from the lower front panel to the rear side, but some users complain that having the sensor close to the camera lens is quite inconvenient.

Another interesting scoop about the Nokia 9 is the addition of a notch area on top of its bezel-less display. HMD Global has started to adapt an all-screen display for its recent premium handsets, including the Nokia 8 Sirocco, although the company could be trying to achieve a true full view appearance for the Nokia 9. With this, the top bezels that usually contain the front-facing and camera should be made as razor-thin as possible, thus the need for a notch to maximize the display area occupied by the screen panel.

Other rumored features of the Nokia 9 include Qualcomm's latest high-end mobile processor, the Snapdragon 845, coupled with 8 GB of random-access memory (RAM). There could also be some improvement on the dual rear camera with a combination of two 22 MP Carl Zeiss lenses.