Nokia phone maker promises quality and affordability with its upcoming HMD-branded phones
HMD Global (HMD), the maker of Nokia phones, revealed last month that it will be launching its own smartphone brand.
CEO Jean-Francois Baril in a Linkedin post said that the company will be expanding its portfolio with a new HMD brand that will co-exist alongside its Nokia phones. This he said will be done in collaborations with “exciting new partners” that are yet to be disclosed.
‘’True to our values, HMD will continue to design for a more sustainable and affordable future for people. We will craft technology that is obsessed with the user experience and anticipates people’s needs.’’ the post read.
The CEO did not however provide details on the new products or when we should expect them to hit the market. In an interview with TechTrends Media, Joseph Umunakwe, the company’s General Manager – West, East & Central Africa has however assured consumers that the devices will feature the same quality as previous Nokia devices.
‘’The devices will be of the same quality and even give us room to innovate more and what this means is that we are going to have an enriched portfolio. ”he said.
”Internally, all of us are excited about it, our consumers are excited about it. We have been sharing the news with a number of our partners in our markets and the response has been phenomenal,’’ he added.
Joseph said having a rich portfolio will also give the company room to innovate in terms of quality, pricing and room they bring to consumers.
‘’Our brand is an aspirational brand, consumers aspire to come into our ecosystem and we will continue to deliver unique experiences to our customers,’’ he concluded.
The devices should be hitting the market in early 2024. According to documents published on HMD’s website, the first phone we could see bearing the name HMD Global will be the M-KOPA X1. The device has been customized for M-Kopa without the Nokia logo. Of course, HMD has not released details about it but going through the product’s pages gives you an idea of what to expect – durability, superior design and technology.
M-KOPA X1 is an interesting choice of name but again it shouldn’t come as a surprise. HMD Global has been quietly working closely with M-KOPA to assemble some of their smartphones, making Kenya the only country in the region where it has a local assembly plant.
In the interview, Joseph confirmed that HMD has more than 400,000 smartphones already assembled in the country. This includes devices like the Nokia C22, Nokia C32, and Nokia C31 among others.
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