As HMD Global continues to release budget Android smartphones with decent specifications and features, it has been quite a while that we have seen a flagship Nokia device has hit the shelves. And surprisingly, the company has confirmed that they won’t be making one anytime soon.
The information comes from a report from Android Authority, where the team had a conversation with Adam Ferguson, the Head of Product Marketing at HMD Global. Adam mentions that “Making an $800 phone doesn’t make sense for us at the moment,” and does not “want to get involved in a massive spec war with other players” in the market. He also adds that the company now wants to focus and “stand for something very different.”. Here they are clearly talking about entry-level/mid-range smartphones and feature phones for the budget category.
Nokia, a company that was once known to offer the best smartphones on the planet for all categories, including flagships, has now reduced to offering good budget devices with multi-day battery life. According to research from Strategy Analysis, the shipments of Nokia smartphones from HMD Global, took a dive between the 2019 and 2020 phase, and the time of pandemic did not help either. It should be noted that the last flagship from HMD Global, the Nokia 9 PureView, was released in 2019. The research clearly indicates that with a focus on budget smartphones, the shipments had improved from the third quarter of 2020, followed by a 41% growth between 2020 and 2021.
With Samsung, Huawei, Apple, and others leading the flagship space for smartphones, it makes sense for HMD Global to focus and release on budget devices for the masses. The company recently announced the Nokia C21, Nokia C21 Plus, and Nokia C2 2nd Edition at the MWC 2022 event.
