The oft-rumoured Nokia 9 smartphone is one step closer to being a reality this week thanks to a leaked report that hints at a slew of premium specs, including Nokia’s yet-to-be-heard OZO Audio.

The report, received by website Nokiapoweruser from an anonymous tipster, suggests the Nokia 9 will debut the company’s OZO Audio, which Nokia itself has described as “Advanced psychoacoustic technology” that “allows sound to be captured and played back just like it would in real life”.

The big pull with OZO is its potential in the realms of VR. The audio tech comes with Audio Focus mode, which lets users hone in on certain sounds, reduce ambient noise and essentially capture immersive 3D audio using a smartphone camera.

If the tipster is to be believed, supreme audio isn’t the only reason to get excited about the Nokia 9. Other specs tipped in the report include a 5.5-inch QHD OLED display, 22-megapixel dual Carl-Zeiss rear camera and a 12-megapixel front-facing camera.

Images made by Concept Creator give an impression of the Nokia 9’s design and functionality

The smartphone will be powered by a Snapdragon 835 processor with Adreno 540 GPU, and will run on a 3,800mAh battery with Qualcomm Quick-Charge 4 support for a speedy juice-up.

It will carry the Android 7.1.2 Nougat operating system, boast 6GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage, and come with a fingerprint and iris scanner. IP68 certification for water and dust resistance ties a neat bow around the handset’s offerings.

Nokiapoweruser is quick to point out that the Nokia 9’s impressive portfolio of specs comes from an irregular source, so it’s probably best to take the latest hearsay with a healthy dose of cynicism. But if we dare to believe, it’s likely that the Nokia 9 could have the forthcoming Samsung Galaxy s8 and Google Pixel 2 shaking in their boots.

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