HMD is a Finnish smartphone company trying to re-establish itself in the global smartphone market, and despite a multitude of new devices – including gimmicks such as its latest Barbie phone – it is facing serious challenges in gaining traction, according to IDC and GFK data.
Struggling to sell Nokia branded devices, which for most young smartphone-savvy consumers is a yesterday “Retro” brand with limited traction, the company – facing major problems – did an about turn that saw the launch of HMD branded devices. But if smartphone reviews are anything to go by, this is creating new problems for HMD, whose products are available at Harvey Norman, select carriers and JB Hi-Fi.
According to IDC the Nokia brand is doing better in Australia with its current range of devices than HMD, with its new Pixel offering. This is a headache for HMD, especially if it loses the Nokia licence in 2025 as tipped.
Several analysts believe that poor results in 2022, the fading awareness of the Nokia brand and the cost of renewing the Nokia licence, led to the decision to launch an HMD brand worldwide, with a big focus on budget and emerging markets such as India, where the company last week rolled out new HMD Crest and HMD Max devices.
HMD is also selling, the HMD skyline in India along with their Barbie device. 
None of these devices are available in Australia, and questions have been raised as to why the company is launching different models with different names in multiple markets.
The business appears to have taken a conscientious decision to compete in the value market, which already has several key players including Samsung, Motorola, Oppo, Nothing, TCL and Logic vying for share.
One of its key products in Australia is the HMD Pulse Pro, which as a new device is being used to enter the cluttered value market for the first time. If the latest reviews are anything to go by this device should have better specs for the price.
This is a 4G model that is selling at retailers such as JB Hi-Fi for $299.
All of the HMD Pulse handsets are promoted on their repairability, a feature heavily pushed on recent additions to the Nokia range. At a recent launch in Australia repairability played a key part in the brand positioning, despite most consumers telling SmartHouse that they “have no interest” in repairing their own smartphones, “especially a cheap phone”.
HMD predicts 75% of the devices it sells across its brands this year will be repairable, up from 33% in 2023.
HMD CMO Lars Silberbauer claimed recently that repair was “the cornerstone of a fresh chapter in smartphone innovation”, with the company recognising “consumers’ needs” and anticipating “market trends” in this area.
In terms of hardware, HMD claims the Pulse has “top-range specs at a mid-range price point”, pointing to the high-grade selfie camera on the highest-end Pulse Pro model and the 59-hour battery life on the other two.
The Pulse range features a 6.65-inch display, 5000mAh battery and Unisoc T606 chipset.
The range runs Android 14 and is not 5G compatible.
Alex Choros at Whistle reviewed the HMD Pulse Pro, describing it as “A decent budget phone, but you’re effectively paying a premium”.
He went on to claim that “The Pulse Pro is sorely under-specked when compared to phones in this price bracket”.
Fergus Halliday at Reviews.org said of the device: “There’s enough that I like about the HMD Pulse Pro that I hope to see a second-generation version of it but not quite enough that I’m willing to endorse this one without some pretty sizable caveats. It’s a budget phone with the right ideas but a lot of the wrong parts”.
He goes on to say “Maybe part of the problem is the lack of clarity on who this device is for. HMD’s marketing has highlighted the camera on the Pulse Pro so much that it feels certain to fall short. The same goes for the repairable design.”
Choros is referring to the competitive nature of this category, where a 4G Motorola G04 with 128Gb of memory is selling for $179. The Moto G54 sells for $249, and has a 1080p+ display, 5G, and a much newer chipset.
Over at Harvey Norman TCL has a 4G, 505 model with 128GB selling for $199.
HMD has two Pulse models – the HMD Pulse + and the HMD Pulse Pro.
In the 5G market HMD is using the Nokia brand with JB Hi Fi, ranging 51 different Nokia models, most of which are feature phones.
So why did HMD decide to go it alone in a cluttered smartphone market, where Chinese brands offer better value? In Australia HMD is also up against brands such as Motorola, which is now the third-ranked smartphone brand in Australia; Samsung, with its budget range; and the likes of Logic, a US brand which is supplying carriers such as Vodafone with low cost, high-specked devices.
New brands in Australia often face a brutal baptism. The UK’s Nothing brand entered the market via an exclusive deal with JB Hi-Fi, but it is struggling, having sold less than 5,000 units in the last quarter according to IDC and GFK data for the period ending in June 2024.
The move by HMD to start its own brand appears to have stemmed from a poor 2022 financial year, when the future for the company looked grim.
Back then HMD (Human Mobile Device Company) was known as HMD Global and it was facing significant financial challenges.
Net sales decreased by 12.2% to 1.257 billion euros compared to 1.433 billion euros the previous year.
The company also reported an operating loss of 76.9 million euros, in contrast to a profit of 12.9 million euros in 2021, which marked its first profitable year in more than five years.
By the end of 2022, HMD Global had 35 million euros in cash, 37 million euros in inventory, and nearly 55 million euros in trade receivables.
However, it also owed more than 424 million euros in debts, relying heavily on funding from suppliers to survive.
HMD also reported a decline in device sales, with approximately 40 million devices sold in 2022 compared to 56 million in 2021, marking a 29% decrease, according to Nokiamob.net. This led to a change in leadership, with Jean-Francois Baril replacing Florian Seiche as CEO. Even HMD’s auditors questioned the company’s future viability.
Then in late September 2023 word quickly spread that HMD was going to launch its own brand. Now, almost 12 months later, questions are being asked about if HMD will survive, particularly if its loses the rights to the Nokia brand next year.