HMD Global, the Finnish company best known for producing Nokia-branded smartphones, has revealed plans to launch its own line of mobile devices. On Monday, HMD Global CEO Jean-Francois Baril announced on Linkedin that the company will expand its portfolio with a new HMD brand that will coexist with its Nokia phones and collaborations with “exciting new partners” that have not yet been revealed.
“It’s been a great journey as ‘HMD – the home of Nokia phones’ – a unique position we have held for the past six years,” Baril said. “We are now ready for the next step in our journey: entering the market independently as a force to create a new world for telecommunications focused on consumer needs.”
HMD Global has not yet provided a launch schedule for its new smartphone brand.
No additional information has been provided about the new HMD products, nor any clues about a possible release date. We’ve reached out to HMD Global for more details and will update this story if we hear back.
HMD Global was formed after Microsoft relinquished its rights to the Nokia brand in 2016. Foxconn took over Microsoft’s feature phone business and Foxconn founder Terry Gou is the principal owner of HMD Global. Nokia-branded devices are currently produced by Foxconn, so any HMD-branded products in the works are likely to also be manufactured by the Taiwanese tech giant.
Nokia-branded phones, like the Nokia C32 launched by HMD, have so far largely fallen into the budget to mid-range category, and it looks like future HMD-branded devices may follow suit. Baril says the company will continue to “design for a more sustainable and affordable future.” Even if Foxconn is behind the actual manufacturing of these new devices, Espoo-based HMD Global Oy is still largely run by former Nokia executives, so this could be an opportunity for the company to claw back some of the brand legacy under a new name.
