HMD, licensee of the Nokia phone brand, is hanging up on the U.S. phone market
HMD hangs up on the United States, and it could be the end of Nokia in the U.S.
On Threads, Wired’s Julian Chokkattu shared a statement from HMD that was released a few days ago. The company is known for licensing the Nokia name since 2016 for use on Android smartphones, feature phones, tablets, and accessories. In the statement, HMD says that it is "scaling back" its U.S. operations. Noting that it has a priority to ensure a seamless transition for its customers and business partners, HMD says it will honor warranties, continue to provide service for existing products, and provide full support globally.
The company says that the "challenging geopolitical and economic environment" has led it to cut back on its U.S. operations. We assume that these "geopolitical and economic" issues are related to the tariffs that the U.S. is imposing on products being imported into the United States. While the company is using the phrase "scaling back," it seems more likely that this statement marks the end of HMD's business selling phones and other related consumer electronics in the U.S. HMD also mentioned that it deeply values the contributions of its U.S. colleagues who are affected by the company's action and says that it will continue to help support them during the transition.
Some of the Nokia phones built by HMD brought back older, popular Nokia feature phones that were big hits before the iPhone took smartphone popularity to a new level. Those included the Nokia 3310 (originally released in 1997 and re-released by HMD in 2017) and the Nokia 8110 (launched in 1996 and re-released in 2018 as the Nokia 8110 4G). The latter was the "Banana phone" used in "The Matrix." The Nokia 3310 re-issue brought back the iconic "Snake game made famous with the original release.
The five 12MP cameras on the back of the 2019 Nokia 9 made by HMD. | Image credit-PhoneArena
In 2019, HMD brought back the PureView name originally used on the Nokia 808 PureView in 2012. The Nokia 9 PureView had so many issues, we gave it a 4 out of 10. The processor in this 2019 flagship was from 2018; there were issues with the camera software, and the battery quickly ran out of power during a typical day. In January 2024, HMD decided to stop using the Nokia name and sold its new phones under the HMD moniker, which stands for Human Mobile Devices.
The Wired's Julian Chokkattu shares HMD's goodbye message to the U.S. on Threads. | Image credit-Threads
HMD's licensing agreement with Nokia ends in 2026. Unless another company wants to give the name another shot in the highly competitive smartphone market, it appears that Nokia will soon join BlackBerry as two early leaders in the smartphone industry that couldn't keep up with the changes to the device that were first made by by Apple in 2007.
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