HMD to launch a Barbie flip phone amidst rebranding: Details here
HMD is set to release a new Barbie-branded flip phone in July in collaboration with Mattel. The company is expected to launch multiple devices this summer, including a retro feature phone carrying the Nokia brand, as well as a smartphone under the HMD brand.
HMD, which has exclusively sold phones under the Nokia brand name, has announced its plans to unveil a new flip phone. The upcoming flip phone will be Barbie-branded and is expected to arrive in July in partnership with Mattel. The company is likely to launch several devices this summer including a new Nokia-branded retro feature phone, and an HMD-branded smartphone.
The company is yet to announce pricing, specifications, or features of its upcoming Barbie phone but it is likely to be a feature phone. HMD’s global head of insight, proposition, and product marketing Adam Ferguson in an interview with The Verge confirms that the purported device will be an all-new device.
HMD is now restyling itself as “Human Mobile Devices” and is planning to sell devices under its own name instead of exclusively producing Nokia-branded products. The collaboration is the result of the same plan and the company has planned to make more such partnerships in the future, as per Ferguson.
Ferguson also said that HMD is not ditching Nokia branding entirely and is not exploring other brand names.
Meanwhile, HMD Global has removed Nokia branding from its online platforms. The Nokia website now redirects to HMD’s website and the Nokia mobile (@nokiamobile) handle on X (formerly Twitter) has been changed to HMD Global (@HMDglobal). However, as per a report, new Nokia-branded smartphones have been spotted listed on the IMEI website.
17 new Nokia models with model numbers TA-1603 to TA-1628 were found on the IMEI website, as per a report by GSMChina. Some of these models are expected to debut at the upcoming Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2024 in Barcelona from February 26 to February 29.
In 2016, Nokia signed a 10-year agreement with HMD Global, which will remain valid until 2026. This suggests that new Nokia models may continue to be released until then. Although there is not much information available about these upcoming smartphones, their presence on the IMEI database indicates that they may be launched soon, possibly within this year.
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