HMD Global
HMD Global is advantageously roll in the hay formaking phones with the Nokia nameon them , but that ’s change in 2024 , and atMWC 2024,it has revealed its sheer plan for the future . Not only is itmaking a Barbie earpiece with Mattel , but it ’s also better repairability . In spell , it ’s tackling one of the industry ’s biggest missed chance — modular phone — by take on the concept in a new way .
Digital Trends speak to HMD Global ’s top dog of production marketing , Adam Ferguson , over Zoom during the Barcelona swop show to understand more about the new name we ’ll see on earpiece this yr .
Ambitious plans
Ferguson part off by making it very well-defined the firm is n’t oblige back when it comes to the Modern plans , saying :
“ As a brand , we have somewhat much outright ambitions when it comes to growth in the future few year . ” But he ’s also realistic , sum up , “ What we desire to ensure we do n’t outpace ourselves when it comes to establishing this new brand . There is so much for us to do , and we do n’t want to jump in with one monumental thousand - one dollar bill phone that will break our chance . ”
With this , Ferguson neatly answers the question many tech fan will have in their idea : Are we get a newSamsung Galaxy S24 Ultracompetitor ? It seems not , at least not for now . go frontward , HMD Global will become known as HMD ( which obviously stands for Human Mobile Devices ) . It will produce a series of HMD Original sound that will occupy various cost tiers . However , the focal point will be on sustainability and repairability .
LG G5 and LG Friends modular componentsDigital Trends
“ What we are focalize on at the consequence is something that has always been very crucial to HMD , which is to ensure that you work as much as we can to everybody , so we take things like repairability and impart it down to price point that nobody has go steady before . What you ’re going to see from us now is taking ripe repairability and bring it up the price musical scale as well . ”
The first HMD Original smartphone will reduce the number of steps ask to change a broken screen , one of the more common but also most complex tasks you could do on itscurrent range of a function of repairable phonesunder the Nokia name . However , to repair a headphone , you have to take it apart , making itsomewhat ‘ modular . ’This procedure leads us to HMD ’s second , and some may say braver , plan for the coming year .
HMD Fusion is coming to solve modular phones
HMD Global showed how seriously it take well-situated repairability with telephone like theNokia G42 , and simplifying the process even further hope to make the first wave of HMD Original phone intriguing . But not as intriguing as HMD Fusion , the name yield to its take on modular phones in the truest sense . Using an as - yet unseen theme HMD Fusion phone , the construct is for us to eventually fit out it with so - called Smart Outfits that heighten its functionality . The turn is that HMD has give up the toolkit for the exploitation of these Outfits to everyone , call it a “ blank canvas for creativity . ”
Ferguson provided more contingent about what Fusion is , say :
“ It will be an HMD equipment , and at its heart , it is a slimline smartphone that if you were to use it on its own , it would be dead functional and a very square phone . The thing which makes it unequaled is the the six pin connectors that appropriate mass to ramp up their Smart Outfits around it , and the very childlike Android software system integration . ”
Motorola Moto ModsJulian Chokkattu/Digital Trends
HMD give a few model of what it require people to make with Fusion , range from add-on like barcode scanners and directional microphones to extended batteries and complex medical devices . While it does n’t use the word modular to describe Fusion , it ’s sure enough redolent of former take on the engineering , such as theLG G5andLG Friends , Motorola ’s Moto Mods , andGoogle ’s Project Ara . However , none of these survive long , so what is HMD ’s secret weapon ?
“ We ’re very much aware that other masses have try similar thing in the past times , ” Ferguson take . “ The big difference of opinion between what has come before and now is the simplicity and the ease . We ’re not exit to retain the ownership [ of the Smart Outfits ] , so you’re able to do what you want to do . We have a simple hardware interface , a wide-eyed software interface , so let ’s see what we can do together . ”
Modular phones for everyone?
The way Fusion is described and the fact anyone can download the development toolkit makes it seem like the system to build a Smart Outfit is highly accessible . But how rightful is this effrontery , and will HMD make its own range of accessory ? Ferguson explicate more :
“ Is this going to be something that anybody off the street can just pick up and create themselves ? No , it ’s not go to be for everybody , ” he clarified about Fusion ’s simplicity , “ That ’s why we will create our own suite of Smart Outfits . But for those people that require to unlock the power of a equipment and have a piffling piece of savvy about it , those are the ones that could go out and do it . ”
This brings in another interesting vantage HMD has over former run out endeavor at modular phone , as Ferguson pointed out :
Yezz Project Ara componentsAndy Boxall/Digital Trends
“ We have a slender advantage over the masses that have come before , in the sense that thing like 3D printing , knowledge of steganography , and thing like that are in the public nous in ways that they never have been before . ”
Coming this summer
Will this technically ‘ new ’ brand be the one to solve the modular earpiece conundrum , where many others have fail in the past ? We do n’t have retentive to wait until we get our first aspect ; HMD design to launch the HMD Fusion during the summertime , along with its first HMD Original machine and the Barbie Flip Phone created in partnership with Mattel .
It has not reveal any of the designs yet , outside of the pixelated tormenter image see above , the specification , or the prices of its new hardware yet , but Ferguson ’s words about “ straight-out ambition ” should say you it ’s very serious about making its breaking away from being solely have it away as the maker of Nokia telephone a success .
