HMD Global
HMD Global is a Finnish independent mobile phone manufacturer. The company is made up of the mobile phone business that the Nokia Corporation sold to Microsoft in 2014, then bought back in 2016 by former executives who formed HMD Global. HMD began marketing Nokia-branded smartphones and feature phones on 1 December 2016, through an exclusive licensing agreement, and began producing self-branded HMD phones in March 2024.
HMD formed a partnership with Google, and uses the Android operating system on their smartphones, originally under the Android One program, whereas HMD's feature phones use the Series 30+ platform as well as the more advanced KaiOS. Manufacturing is outsourced to Foxconn subsidiary FIH Mobile. Nokia has a stake in HMD, and remains a partner, setting mandatory requirements and providing patents and technologies, in return for royalty payments.
History
Context
Nokia was one of the largest global mobile phone and smartphone makers until it began to struggle in maintaining market leadership due to the rise of more innovative smartphone offerings from Apple, Samsung and Google. Due to various factors, Nokia was unable to maintain the popularity it once had back in the 2000s. Its initial partnership with Microsoft to use its operating system did not help either as Windows Phone's mobile app offerings were not as comprehensive as the ones available on Apple's iOS and Google's Android.At this point of time, Nokia had a lineup of feature phones, and a range of low- to high-end smartphones under the Nokia Eseries, Microsoft Lumia and Nokia Asha product lines.
By the early 2010s, Nokia had lost major market share in the mobile phone market, and was overtaken by Apple and Samsung.
In 2014, Nokia's mobile phone business was sold to Microsoft, along with the right to use the Nokia brand for mobile phones for ten years. The sale did not end the woes of the business. Microsoft used the brand primarily as a means of introducing its Windows Phone mobile operating system, which was itself struggling to establish any kind of significant market presence. The range of Microsoft Lumia smartphones did not gain significant traction in the highly competitive smartphone market dominated by Android and iOS devices. There were further internal struggles, as Microsoft tried to reconcile the Nokia brand with its own objectives under Microsoft Mobile. By October 2014, Microsoft decided to drop the Nokia brand in favor of its Microsoft-branded Lumia smartphone range with the release of Microsoft Lumia 535, while only the featurephone segment kept the Nokia brand.
Formation of HMD and launch
The CEO of Nokia, Rajeev Suri, said in June 2015 that the Nokia brand would return to smartphones. Earlier that year Nokia Technologies released the N1 tablet running Android. Under the terms of the acquisition agreement with Microsoft, Nokia could not sell Nokia-branded phones until 31 December 2015. Suri said in February 2016 that he wanted the company to be in a position where it co-designs with another manufacturer, but keeps "appropriate control measures".HMD Global Oy was originally incorporated in Helsinki on 9 November 2015.
On 18 May 2016, Microsoft Mobile announced the sale of its feature phone business to HMD Global and FIH Mobile. The sale included design rights, and its rights to use Nokia brand on all types of mobile phones and tablets worldwide until 2024, except in Japan, where Nokia-branded mobile phones have not been sold since 2008. HMD also signed a licensing agreement with Nokia Corporation which included giving it use of cellular standard essential patent licenses. Nokia has said this move is "uniting one of the world's iconic mobile brands with the leading mobile operating system". Some factories of Microsoft Mobile, including one located in Vietnam, had been sold to Foxconn, the world's largest electronics manufacturer.
It was agreed that HMD products would be manufactured in the FIH/Foxconn factories. The total sale to both HMD Global and FIH Mobile amounted to US$350 million. HMD have decided to spend US$500 million in supporting the marketing of the new products over the next three years. In addition the company is backed by a Luxembourg-based private equity fund called Smart Connect LP, run by Jean-François Baril, who was senior vice president of Nokia from 1999 to 2012.
On 1 December 2016, the Nokia website showed mobile devices for sale for the first time since 2014. Their first devices, Nokia 150 and 150 Dual SIM feature phones, was announced on 13 December 2016, while their first Android smartphone, Nokia 6, was announced on 8 January 2017. At Mobile World Congress in February 2017, HMD announced the relaunch of the iconic Nokia 3310, along with two new Android devices named Nokia 3 and Nokia 5. The first Nokia branded Android smartphone, Nokia 6 was released in China and a few other Asian markets starting January, while Western releases commenced in June starting with Finland, with a full worldwide release of all three Android devices by August 2017.
HMD used a marketing strategy advertising Nokia phones as "pure, secure and up to date" as well as brand trust and nostalgia.
HMD is headquartered in Espoo, Finland, and is largely run by former Nokia executives. The first CEO was Arto Nummela, a Nokia veteran of 17 years, until July 2017, when company president Florian Seiche took over as CEO.
2017-2023
On 6 July 2017 HMD partnered with Carl Zeiss AG to provide camera lens optics for Nokia smartphones. Nokia previously used Zeiss optics in its mobile phone lineup from 2005 to 2014.On 27 July 2017, HMD purchased 500 design patents from Microsoft Mobile that were originally created by Nokia. One notable patent is the Lumia Camera user interface, which had been highly praised by critics since appearing on the Nokia Lumia 1020.
On 16 August 2017, HMD introduced their first flagship Nokia smartphone, the Nokia 8. Its most distinguishing features are Dual Sight, allowing live streaming with both the front and rear Zeiss cameras, and OZO Audio, which contains spatial 360° audio technology derived from Nokia's high-end OZO camera.
In September 2017, HMD acquired the design patent of Nokia Lumia 2520.
On 25 October 2017, HMD revived the Nokia Beta Labs, a beta software program.
On 11 January 2018, HMD Global acquired the Asha brand name.
On 25 February 2018, A new high-end flagship was introduced, Nokia 8 Sirocco, featuring a curved all-glass design and its name referring to the older Nokia 8800 Sirocco, as well as Nokia 7 plus, and ultra-low-cost smartphone, Nokia 1. In addition, HMD re-introduced the Nokia Pro Camera app for Zeiss camera phones. The classic 8110 was also reintroduced.
In late July 2018, HMD announced vacancy for a team to expand the business in USA.
For the Chinese market, Nokia X6 was announced, which got a worldwide release as Nokia 6.1 Plus. Another Chinese-market device, called Nokia X5, was later announced. Both of these have bezel-less screens. These devices are direct successors to the mid-upper range Xseries used for the touchscreen Symbian smartphones
In late August 2018, HMD acquired PureView branding, the imaging technology brand which had previously been implemented on high-end Nokia/Lumia smartphones since the Nokia 808 PureView in 2012.
In November 2019, HMD announced Nokia C1, the Android Go smartphone.
On 19 March 2020, HMD held an online event and announced Nokia 8.3 5G, the first ever Nokia-branded 5G smartphone, and the "world's first truly global 5G device". Other products announced the same day were Nokia 5.3, Nokia 1.3, and revival of Nokia 5310 XpressMusic. HMD also introduced HMD Connect, which is a global roaming data SIM card, with associated plans. Nokia 6.2 and Nokia 7.2 get exclusive 007-branded Kevlar cases in conjunction to the HMD marketing campaign with James Bond movie No Time to Die.
HMD are currently implementing new systems utilizing Artificial Intelligence.
In July 2020, HMD acquired Valona Labs, a mobile software cybersecurity company.
2024-present
The HMD brand was initially only used for corporate purposes and did not appear in advertising, while the name "Nokia Mobile" is used on social media. In January 2024, HMD rebranded to 'Human Mobile Devices'.Starting in 2023, HMD has considered dropping the Nokia branding in favor of the generic HMD brand in order to diversify its portfolio. This came to fruition with the 2024 release of the HMD Vibe as the first non-Nokia HMD smartphone, and by 2025, HMD has discontinued the smartphones that are still under the Nokia brand, with the exception of feature phones. It has been suggested that HMD have been preparing for the event that its exclusive agreement with Nokia Corporation will not be renewed as it will expire by 2026. However, on September 2025, Nokia Corporation has extended its licensing agreement with HMD by another two to three years beyond the original 2026 expiration, ensuring that Nokia-branded feature phones will continue to be sold through HMD Global.
On 8 September 2025, HMD announced that it was pulling out of the US market due to unfavourable regulatory conditions, particularly new tariffs on imported goods. The post reiterated that existing devices will be supported for the full warranty period, but all new devices will be exclusive to the international market. Subsequently, the US webpage for HMD was taken down and redirected to the international site.
Product naming
The product naming of Nokia devices has historically been based on the numerical system, with new Nokia-branded Android smartphones being named from 1 to 9; with Nokia 1 series being the lowest-end entry level smartphone, and the Nokia 9 series being the highest-end offering of the portfolio. For device successors, and new products launched under the same series, the decimal system is being used to denote the different smartphone versions, Nokia 6.1, Nokia 6.2. In addition to this, Verizon carrier locked phones are marked with a V, such as the Nokia 9V PureviewIn April 2021, a new two-digit nomenclature was introduced with the launch of the G series and X series alongside the existing C series.