Exclusive | HMD Barbie Phone to Launch in India Next Year

HMD Barbie Phone is set for launch in India next year. The Finnish company, which holds the license to sell Nokia-branded phones, said it is planning to expand its feature phone portfolio next year and the highlight of that move will be the Barbie Phone -- a functional feature phone inspired by the iconic fashion doll Barbie.

Speaking to Republic Tech in an exclusive conversation on the sidelines of the HMD Fusion smartphone launch, Ravi Kunwar, CEO & Vice President - India & APAC at HMD, said the company is bullish about the India market. It plans to double down on efforts to keep its phone business afloat, especially in the country's competitive smartphone market, currently dominated by Chinese players, such as Vivo and Xiaomi.

"We are going to bring the Barbie Phone to India soon," Kunwar told Republic Tech.

HMD's Barbie Phone debuted at the Mobile World Congress in February as part of the company's partnership with American toy manufacturing and entertainment firm Mattel. It looks identical to its toy counterpart, which the company claims strikes the right chord with customers who have grown up playing the latter, but more importantly, want to undergo a digital detox.

At the global launch, HMD, which now defines itself as Human Mobile Devices, said 38 per cent of users aged 16 to 24 years are concerned about excessive smartphone usage. The Barbie Phone, which uses a flip mechanism, helps them stay away from smartphones and promotes the idea of sticking to the essentials of a phone.

What is HMD Barbie Phone?

The flip feature phone from HMD will remind users of the Barbie-inspired toy phone, but it is a functional device that allows users to make calls, send texts, listen to music, and photos. It has a 2.8-inch QVGA non-touchscreen main display and a 1.77-inch QQVGA display on the flip cover. With a 0.3MP camera, the feature phone has 64MB of RAM and 128MB of storage. However, it supports up to 32GB of expandable storage. The phone has a 1450mAh battery and a Unisoc T107 SoC.