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Nokia phones have stood the test of time in not just the public consciousness, but also literally. They’re historically built like tanks, and after its first death in the phone industry, the brand gained a new life when internet meme culture took on its first legs. On the corporate side, the licensing of the Nokia name and phone line was sold in 2014 to Microsoft before being dumped again to Human Mobile Devices (HMD Global) in 2016. Since then, HMD has sold Android smartphones utilizing the Nokia name and even helped introduce the wild idea of user-repairable smartphones to the US, but that’s set to change going forward.
OnePlus is returning to Germany for the first time since 2022
The OnePlus 12 and 12R are headed to Germany after 17-month hiatus fueled by Nokia patent feud
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Heads up, German shoppers: The OnePlus store is officially (re)open for business. News of the Chinese cell phone manufacturer returning to the German market broke this morning, after it took a roughly year-and-a-half-long hiatus from advertising and selling its products in Germany amid a patent dispute with competing mobile manufacturer Nokia.
How our cell phones evolved over the last 24 years
Let's take a trip down memory lane to explore the largest phone makers from the past 24 years
With the news last week of Apple dethroning Samsung as the world's largest smartphone manufacturer, we thought it would be fun to take a trip down memory lane to see which company has dominated the past 24 years. The world's biggest phone makers through the years were some household names; from Nokia to Samsung, there were many standout giants. But now and again, an upstart would threaten the status quo. So, let's explore smartphone history and get nostalgic, as the last two and a half decades have been pretty crazy.
Leak reveals first HMD-branded phone from Nokia manufacturer
The model numbers of two unnamed phones have leaked
While HMD has only been in the smartphone business since 2016, it’s made significant progress since debuting in the industry. The company has expanded beyond Nokia, operating in eight regions around the globe and marketing several products. Now, HMD is making preparations to launch its own branded device without using the Nokia name. Although few details have been confirmed thus far, some information has leaked about what it may look like when it debuts later this year.
Nokia's enigmatic N-Gage is 20 years old: The first gaming phone was ahead of its time
Let's look back at Nokia's terrible 'good idea'
Back in the early 2000s, Nokia got an idea. Why not take the market leader in the portable gaming device market, the Game Boy Advance, and combine it with our latest Nokia phone? This would create a device that functions as a phone that can run great games at the same time. That idea spawned the N-gage, the first proper gaming phone. But was it a brand-new gold standard for mobile gaming and cell communication?
HMD Global branches out with a brand-new identity separate from Nokia
Co-founder reveals plans to introduce an independent line of smartphones
The smartphone industry is in a constant state of flux, characterized by cutthroat competition and shifting market trends. Within this intricate tapestry, HMD Global has carved a niche for itself, especially known for reviving the iconic Nokia brand for modern audiences. As time moves forward, there are whispers that this company is on the cusp of a monumental transformation.
HMD's newest user-repairable Nokia smartphone is coming to the US
Phone broke? Order new parts online and install them yourself
With smartphones as critical to our daily lives as they are, it's no wonder we want to get back up and running as soon as possible when something goes wrong. Recently, the movement towards giving smartphone owners the tools, components, and instructions they need to repair their own phones has been gaining a lot of ground. Earlier this year, we saw HMD Global introduce its own affordable and user-repairable Nokia smartphones, with a focus on Europe. Now we're getting ready to see if US smartphone shoppers are interested, too, with the launch of a new easy-to-repair Nokia model for T-Mobile.
Just last week, Oppo explained that it would be suspending sales in Germany due to an ongoing patent dispute with Nokia. Following in its sister company's footsteps, fellow BBK Electronics sub-brand Vivo could be the next phone manufacturer to halt its operations in the country.
Oppo may not be leaving Europe, but business in Germany is still on hold for now
The old Nokia German patent dispute rears its ugly head again
Late last month, a rumor claimed that Oppo and OnePlus were planning on exiting the European market. The two BBK Electronics-owned companies denied the report and insisted both Oppo and OnePlus remain “committed to all the existing European markets.” This week, however, Oppo clarifies that its business is actually still “on hold” in Germany.
One small step for LTE: Nokia plans to bring 4G to the moon this year
E.T. might get a better signal than you do
As you point your phone's camera to the heavens, snapping some totally real shots of the moon, do you ever think about what life might be like up there? When we finally do inhabit the moon, Nokia is making sure you’ll be able to get a signal. During Mobile World Congress in Barcelona in March, Nokia principal engineer Luis Maestro Ruiz De Temino told reporters that the company plans to launch a 4G network on the surface of the moon later this year.
The Nokia G22 is taking Fairphone head on
HMD Global-led Nokia has announced a trio of low-end phones at MWC 2023
As a brand, Nokia has scaled back its ambitions after it left Microsoft and returned to Finnish ownership. While the company showed great promise early on, HMD Global has only managed to churn out budget-oriented phones with the Nokia name in recent years. To its credit, these devices usually have excellent battery life and feature a big screen. Continuing that trend, Nokia has announced a trio of low-end phones at MWC 2023 and they come with added durability and repairability.
Nokia’s new Circular phone subscription is built with sustainability in mind
Circular is an environmentally friendly way to buy a new phone
HMD Global, the brand behind recent Nokia phones, has used IFA 2022 to announce a variety of new gadgets and a new subscription service for some of them that focuses on sustainability. Nokia Circular is a new service designed to cut down on e-waste by leasing you a handset for a period of time and recycling the product at the end of its lifecycle. The scheme is first launching in the United Kingdom and Germany, but HMD Global intends to bring it to other markets soon.
Nokia says Oppo can avoid sales ban by renewing its license on fair terms
It's entirely in Oppo's hands to revert its sales ban
In early August, the Munich 1 Regional Court imposed a sales ban on Oppo and OnePlus in Germany following a patent dispute with Nokia. This was after the BBK-owned companies failed to negotiate and renew their 4G cross-licensing agreement with the Finnish giant, which, according to Oppo, was asking for an unreasonably high renewal licensing fee. Back then, Oppo confirmed to us that it had no intention of exiting the German market and was working with all the parties involved to resolve the issue. Nokia has now reached out to us with its side of the story.
Oppo and OnePlus face wide-reaching smartphone sales bans following patent dispute with Nokia
Oppo and OnePlus have stopped selling their phones in Germany and might face similar issues in other EU countries
Over the years, patents and licensing fees have been at the crux of significant disputes between tech companies. The Sonos-Google battle is the perfect example of this. Certain features in Nest and Home speakers violated Sonos' patents. When the latter sued Google for licensing money, it removed the related functionality altogether. Similarly, Oppo and OnePlus have now been forced to pull their phones from Germany after losing an appeal against a patent violation lawsuit from Nokia, the networking giant, and there might be more markets to come.
New Nokia phones won’t feature Zeiss cameras
The partnership ended in 2021, but nobody seemed to notice
Future Nokia phones won't come with the Zeiss brand as they have done for over five years. HMD Global, the company that makes Nokia branded phones, has confirmed that its partnership with Zeiss optics has ended. In fact, the relationship between the two brands ended in 2021, but the company has now officially confirmed the news after NokiaMob noticed the branding had been removed from the Zeiss website.
This new Nokia feature phone weirdly has built-in true wireless headphones
Nostalgic keypads, removable batteries, and everything you missed come standard
The world may be clamoring for high-end smartphones, or hype beasts like the Nothing Phone 1, but players like HMD Global still make feature phones for markets where people check prices before the spec sheet. Developing compelling phones that remain very affordable is a challenging task, but Nokia still manages to give us plenty of reasons to pay attention to its ongoing efforts. The company recently launched three new feature phones worldwide, one of which features a very cool oddity: an integrated case for true-wireless earphones.
When will my phone be updated to Android 12?
2021's Android upgrade is slowly coming to more devices every month
We're well into the age of Android 12 and if you own any of the devices that have already been updated, you can count yourself lucky. For the rest of us with relatively new phones, there's only one question: when will I get it? We've dug for the answers, all you need to do is click through to find them out.
Nokia's newest Android Go phones have removable batteries and other 2014 specs
Let's party like it's the 2010s again
As an Android brand, Nokia has found its own rhythm with phones — make them cheap without looking or feeling so, make them easy to maintain, and then (try to) maintain them. It's a strategy that has helped its parent company, HMD Global, achieve its first profitable year in 2021. And it hopes to continue that winning streak with a second batch of aggressively budget-minded products for 2022.
Nokia sales seemingly dry up across Europe in wake of German patent dispute
Including its home market of Finland
If you live in Europe, and you've tried to buy a Nokia phone recently, you might have run into a few problems finding one for sale. Granted, Europe is one of the main markets for Nokia devices, but it's not like demand for these HMD-made phones grew exponentially overnight. Instead, we appear to be seeing fallout stemming from a legal battle in Germany that ultimately forced the company to pull its phones from the nation.
The mobile landscape went under a pandemic-accelerated overhaul in the past couple of years. Huawei is no longer the foreign juggernaut it used to be, Honor is with new ownership, Oppo and OnePlus are in slow-motion homogenization, and LG is a complete non-factor in 2022. You'd think these developments would suck all the air out of Mobile World Congress, which is being held on-time this year as opposed to in last year's sweaty Iberian summer. Well, prepare for your breath to be taken away.