DUBAI: HMD Global has launched five Nokia smartphones in a bid to prove that it is here to stay and give its rivals a run for their money.
The Finnish start-up owns the rights to sell Nokia-branded phones and tablets.
HMD launched Nokia 8 Sirocco, Nokia 7 Plus, new Nokia 6 (2018 edition) and Nokia 1, and one sliding feature phone — Nokia 8110 with 4G — on Thursday in the UAE.
Nokia 8 Sirocco is available in the UAE for Dh2,399, Nokia 7 Plus for Dh1,399, New Nokia 6 for Dh899, Nokia 1 for Dh299 while Nokia 8110 will be available from June for Dh249.
Sirocco, 7 Plus and 6 will join the Android One family while Nokia 1 will run on Android Go, a lighter version of Android Oreo optimised for devices with 1GB RAM or less.
Sanmeet Singh Kochhar, General Manager for Middle East at HMD Global, told Gulf News that the company launched five Nokia models in the UAE last year and now “our plan is to expand our devices portfolio and penetrate our presence across different price bands and markets. Nokia phones are now available in all the price points with 10 models.”
“Last year was our [HMD] first year of operation and we sold 70 million basic [feature] phones globally and ranked as the number one in value. We launched smartphones in July last year.”
According to industry reports, HMD has sold around 10 million smartphones last year.
Both feature phones and smartphones play an important role in addressing the consumer needs, Kochhar said.
“We expect a significant growth this year compared to last year because of our differentiation and innovation. We will be launching more new models this year to have a significant growth,” he said.
Nabila Popal, senior research manager at International Data Corporation, told Gulf News that majority of Nokia phones sold are feature phones but they are focusing on the smartphone branding and have plans to grow that in the coming years. “It has been their strategy since the launch last year to build the demand first organically and slowly rather than to push supply and set high targets initially,” she said.
However, she said that Nokia has a “very good chance” given the brand’s strength and nostalgia from a consumer point of view, many of whom were ex-Nokia.
Kafil Merchant, a research analyst at IDC, said that Nokia has seen a 35 per cent year-on-year growth in volume when looked at 2016-2017 inside the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region.
Highlighting the split between feature phones and smartphones, he said Nokia has been an overwhelming player in the feature phone segment with an 84 per cent share in 2016 to a growth of to 88 per cent in volume for 2017 inside the GCC.
“Nokia propelled their new Android smartphones in second and third quarters of last year, and has registered quarter-on-quarter growth from that point forward till fourth quarter of last year in volume within the GCC,” he said.
Kochhar said that the UAE is one of the top global markets for Nokia as the country tops the charts for smartphone penetration.
Nokia is sold in 170 countries with operations in 80.
