No more Nokia flagship smartphones, for now: HMD Global

End of Nokia flagship phones? 

According to Adam Ferguson, an USD 800 smartphone doesn’t really make sense for Nokia at the moment. He also stated that the company doesn’t want to be involved in a specifications war that’s currently raging in the high-end smartphone market. Instead, he hopes that Nokia will stand for something different. This pretty much confirms that HMD isn’t interested in the flagship smartphone market.

However, this isn’t really surprising. For years, ever since the return of Nokia, the company has mainly focused on making good mid-range and budget smartphones. It did try its hand at high-end flagships, and launched phones across all price segments. The Nokia 9 Pureview launched in 2019 also didn’t help the company much. Then came the COVID pandemic, and that made things worse. Fortunately, HMD reduced phone launches, stuck to mid-range and budget devices, and things did turn around for the good. 

The change in strategy has helped HMD Global maintain back to back profitable quarters since Q3 2020. As per a report, Q4 2021 was Nokia’s most profitable quarter, when it shipped around 3.2 million smartphones, and its revenue grew 41 percent YoY. Currently, HMD Global has all its focus on mid-range, entry-level, and feature phones. The company wants its devices to offer excellent battery life, be affordable, and last several years. It also hopes to be a US prepaid smartphone leader by the end of 2022. 

When asked if it’s the end of Nokia flagships, Adam Ferguson states that there’s a lot to do to reach a point where they can launch flagships and compete with others. It’ll be a big fight to hang with the big boys, but if any brand can make a comeback and win people’s heart, then that’s Nokia.