NEW DELHI: HMD Global, the maker of Nokia devices, said that its smartphone brand will be launched in the first half of the 2024 calendar year, with India being a priority market.
“Our Chairman and CEO announced sometime back that HMD will be going into our own branded devices: smartphones, tablets, feature phones and ecosystem devices. Yes, India is a critical market regarding outlook and performance. India is a top priority market for HMD-branded devices,” Ravi Kunwar, vice president of India and APAC at HMD Global, told ET.
The company could have an “India-first” approach for the HMD-branded devices, including smartphones, Kunwar said, adding that HMD will make all handsets under the new brand in India and could also start exports to other markets.
“The government of India is pushing Indian and affiliated entities to drive the whole manufacturing ecosystem. And that’s where this whole India opportunity fits in. There are huge supply chain initiatives which can come out of India. There could be product design initiatives which could come out of India. In the past, we designed India-specific 5G handsets as well. Yes, India needs to be the lead,” the executive said.
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The HMD-branded smartphone portfolio will be priced across segments but will target different consumer segments than the Nokia-branded portfolio.
HMD is currently working with Foxconn, Dixon and Lava to make feature phones and smartphones in India and has started exports of its feature phone to African markets.
Kunwar said that HMD is evaluating the whole supply chain, and depending on the requirement, it will decide to either increase the capacity of existing partners or add a new partner to serve local and export needs.
“India definitely is one market where domestic consumption is bound to grow. And then it has to become an export hub for markets outside,” he added.
The executive said 2023 will be a watershed year for the feature phone market, which is set to grow significantly over the last year. “The overall market is growing, and we are growing share with that.”
To drive smartphone sales of its Nokia smartphones, HMD has launched its financing program, HMD Easy Pay, in partnership with DMI Finance. It expects that this new financing program for the company will enable 25-30% of the new smartphone sales.
The HMD Easy Pay program covers a variety of Nokia smartphone models, including the Nokia G42 8/256GB, Nokia C32, Nokia C22, and Nokia C12 Pro.
Earlier this month, Xiaomi also launched its digital loan disbursal program, “Xiaomi Easy Finance (XEF)”, for consumers to drive the sales of its smartphones.
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