HMD Global Reveals Its Rebranding Efforts; Barbie Flip Phone to Debut Later This Year

HMD-branded smartphone will be launched later in summer this year.

Written by Nithya P Nair, Edited by Siddharth Suvarna | Updated: 25 February 2024 20:14 IST

HMD Global Reveals Its Rebranding Efforts; Barbie Flip Phone to Debut Later This Year

Photo Credit: HMD Global

Devices under the HMD and Nokia brand names will co-exist in the global markets

Highlights

HMD teased the upcoming product portfolio of devices at MWC 2024
HMD stands for Human Mobile Devices
HMD aims to boost repairability

HMD Global, the company known for its Nokia-branded phones, has announced its rebranding plans at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2024 event in Barcelona on Sunday (February 25). The Finnish mobile manufacturer has revealed that it will release a Barbie-branded flip phone later this year in partnership with Mattel. The company has also released an image suggesting a pink colour scheme for the upcoming retro feature phone. Further, HMD is eyeing to bring back another iconic Nokia phone design this year.

HMD, which stands for Human Mobile Devices, confirmed its rebranding efforts during MWC 2024 signaling a new direction for the company. The company that has exclusively sold phones under the Nokia brand name for the past seven years revealed its plans to launch smartphones bearing its own HMD name. It would follow a multi-brand strategy by making HMD original devices and continuing to sell Nokia phones. HMD says that it will make phones that are “affordable, beautiful, desirable, and repairable.”

The smartphone manufacturer confirmed plans to introduce a Barbie-branded flip phone in the summer this year in partnership with toy maker Mattel. The HMD has not revealed the design of the upcoming retro feature phone but gave us a glimpse at the pink finish. The company has also confirmed that it will bring back an “iconic Nokia phone" this summer. An HMD-branded smartphone will also see light in the same timeline.

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HMD
Photo Credit: HMD

HMD also aims to boost repairability and reduce the number of steps needed to fix a broken screen of the smartphone. Last year, the company launched the Nokia G22 in partnership with repair specialists iFixit. The handset includes replaceable parts and toolkits so that customers can fix their phones themselves.

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Further, the brand expects half of the smartphone devices sold globally in 2024 to be repairable. Furthermore, HMD is launching a first version toolkit for developers and businesses with open design files and information on software integration.

Is the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 the best foldable phone you can buy in India right now? We discuss the company's new clamshell-style foldable handset on the latest episode of Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Spotify, Gaana, JioSaavn, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.

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Further reading: Nokia, HMD, HMD Global, Mattel, Mobile World Congress, MWC 2024

Nithya P Nair

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Nithya P Nair is a journalist with more than five years of experience in digital journalism. She specialises in business and technology beats. A foodie at heart, Nithya loves exploring new places (read cuisines) and sneaking in Malayalam movie dialogues to spice up conversations. More