The largest financing since HMD was established.
Nokia has not withdrawn from public view in the 5G era. According to Reuters, Nokia-branded smartphone manufacturer HMD recently received $230 million in financing, funded by Google and Qualcomm.
HMD is Nokia’s exclusive license to produce mobile phones and tablets. It was established in 2016 and its main founders are all from Nokia. After being taken over by HMD, Nokia, which had fallen behind in the 3G era, announced its return to the mobile phone market at CES 2017.
In addition to mobile phones, Nokia currently has a layout in the research and development of communications technology, and is currently the third largest 5G communications technology company after Huawei and Ericsson.
At present, in addition to feature phones, HMD has always launched smart phones. With excellent quality and cost-effectiveness, in some underdeveloped areas, sales of HMD functional machines are booming.
In the first two years after being taken over by HMD, Nokia’s mobile phone shipments experienced a rapid growth stage. According to Counterpoint data, in the second quarter of 2018, smartphone shipments reached the top ten globally, and 17.59 million smartphones were shipped in the same year.
However, as more and more regions are transitioning to smart phones, Nokia has already been classified as others on the list of global mobile phone shipments. Entering 2019, HMD’s growth has fallen into a bottleneck, with shipments of 12.9 million smartphones, down 27% year-on-year; shipments of functional phones at 53.49 million, down 17% year-on-year.
When the feelings of Nokia’s feature phone cannot be beaten, HMD must have a better 5G smart phone product launch.
With the support of Google and Qualcomm, the funds will be used to help HMD develop 5G smart phones. The new phones launched may cooperate with operators and be sold in the US market. As early as March this year, Nokia released the first 5G mobile phone Nokia 8.3 5G.
According to the financial report, HMD’s 2019 revenue was 1.7 billion euros, a decrease of nearly 30% year-on-year, and a loss of 295 million euros, an increase of more than 50% year-on-year. As early as 2018, HMD received US$180 million in financing, and this financing is the second external capital injection. This is also the largest financing that HMD has received since 2016, so it has a “life-saving” effect for HMD.