Nokia smartphones return to take on Apple and Samsung

Microsoft wrote off $7.6 billion in Nokia’s value and slashed thousands of jobs, despite the brand’s popularity with celebrities such as the actress Jessica Alba
Microsoft wrote off $7.6 billion in Nokia’s value and slashed thousands of jobs, despite the brand’s popularity with celebrities such as the actress Jessica Alba
KIMIHIRO HOSHINO/AFP

Once the most popular mobile phone brand in the world, Nokia is to be revived with a new range of smartphones, designed in London, that will be released in the first half of next year.

HMD Global, the company behind the Nokia renaissance, said that the new devices were likely to include entry-level and premium products and would not be cluttered with
pre-loaded apps but focus instead on functionality, such as long battery life.

“The market is flooded with smartphones but consumers find little differentiation,” Florian Seiche, president of HMD, said. “People are looking for a pure experience delivered really well.”

Nokia dominated the mobile phone industry for nearly 30 years but its fortunes began to wane with the launch of the iPhone in 2007.