HMD International, the corporate greatest identified for licensing the Nokia model for brand new telephones and tablets over the past decade, has introduced that it’ll “reduce” its US operations, and seems to have stopped promoting each HMD and Nokia gadgets fully.
The withdrawal was confirmed in an announcement shared by Wired’s Julian Chokkattu on Threads, and acknowledges “a difficult geopolitical and financial surroundings,” which sounds prefer it may be a well mannered method of claiming “tariffs.”
Whereas HMD’s assertion doesn’t affirm a whole departure from the US market, its website tells a special story. HMD’s webstore is not on-line, and product pages both give no shopping for info, or have a “The place to purchase” button that isn’t purposeful, even supposing some handsets are nonetheless in the stores from Amazon and different retailers.
HMD informed Chokkattu that it’ll proceed to honor “guarantee protection and repair for current merchandise,” which will likely be dealt with by the corporate’s international help groups. As for US staff, the corporate has not confirmed particulars of any job losses, however says it’s “dedicated to supporting [US staff] throughout this transition.” We’ve reached out to HMD for remark.
Primarily based in Finland, HMD was shaped in 2016 with the intention to buy the Nokia function cellphone enterprise from Microsoft, which had in flip purchased the ailing model in 2014. It additionally secured a license to make use of the Nokia identify on smartphones and tablets, with a concentrate on reasonably priced and midrange {hardware}.
In 2023 HMD introduced plans to launch merchandise beneath its personal model, together with the repairable Skyline (which, oddly, stays the solely Android cellphone with Qi2 help), together with model partnerships just like the Barbie flip cellphone and the Heineken Boring Cellphone. Ever since, Nokia has been relegated to function telephones. Solely 4 HMD-branded smartphones ever launched within the US, and none for the reason that modular HMD Fusion got here out in September 2024, although a number of different HMD telephones have launched internationally in that point.
Right here’s HMD International’s assertion in full:
“Like many international companies, HMD is navigating a difficult geopolitical and financial surroundings. After cautious consideration, we’ve made the choice to reduce our US operations.
Our precedence is guaranteeing a seamless transition for our prospects and companions. We are going to proceed to honour all obligations, together with guarantee protection and repair for current merchandise, and supply full help by our international groups.
We deeply worth the contributions of our US colleagues impacted by this variation and are dedicated to supporting them throughout this transition.
HMD stays centered on long-term development, with robust momentum throughout our mainstream enterprise and key segments comparable to Household, Safe, and Microfinancing.”