HMD drops Nokia-branded smartphones in European Markets: Report

HMD Global, the company that ships Nokia-branded smartphones and feature phones globally, has silently removed Nokia smartphones from its websites in several European countries signaling a change in future of Nokia devices.  

According to reports, the company has removed Nokia smartphones from its official websites in some of the countries in the European market, which includes United Kingdom, Germany and Austria. However, the company is yet to remove Nokia-branded smartphones from its official site in Finland. The company has also removed Nokia-branded tablets from its official websites in select European markets.

However, the company continues to offer Nokia-branded feature phones in Europe. HMD Global also continues to offer Nokia-branded smartphones in other markets across the globe including in Asia, Africa, New Zealand, Australia and Middle East, where the brand Nokia remains popular among the masses.

Additionally, HMD Global has also not removed Nokia-branded smartphones from its support pages in the select European markets, indicating that the company will continue to provide software support and security updates to the smartphones.

What this means for the future of Nokia phones?

It is worth noting that the development comes after the company signaled a change of guards earlier this year. For the unversed, the company update its official website earlier this year indicating that it would continue to make Nokia-branded smartphones while focusing on more. "We’re still makers of Nokia smartphones and Nokia "dumbphones," but we’re getting warmed up to bring you even more, including original HMD devices, and phones from all-new partnerships," the company had written in a post back in January this year.

Now, almost eight months later, the company has started moving away from Nokia-branded smartphones and transitioning to HMD-branded devices at least in some countries in the European Market. It remains to be seen when HMD Global will completely move away from manufacturing and selling Nokia smartphones in markets across the globe.