BARCELONA, 26 Feb 2018:
Seeking to capitalise on their comeback over the past year, the makers of Nokia phones are expanding to include a premium Android smartphone – their first – and a remake of one of its biggest hits of the 1990s, the 8110 “slider” phone.
Set up by ex-Nokia executives who have licensed the famous brand, HMD Global – as the year-old company is known – has focused on mid-priced Androids and even sub-US$100-priced phones since entering the smartphone market.
Chief executive Florian Seiche said HMD has sold around 30 million phones after introducing 11 new phone models over the past year. It announced two new models yesterday, plus refreshed versions of three phones first offered last year.
“We feel great about the momentum we had in 2017 and that gives us the confidence to double down in 2018,” Seiche said at a briefing in London ahead of the product launch.
Mobile phone market tracker Counterpoint Research said Nokia phones surged during 2017 to become the world’s No 1 seller of low-cost feature phones and No 11 in smartphones after only entering the market last year. On a combined basis, Nokia now ranks as the No 6 mobile phone seller, Counterpoint calculates.
HMD’s strategy is to use distribution partnerships with 600 top mobile operators and retailers in selected markets around the world to offer reliable, affordable products with the latest innovations, plus monthly Google security updates on all phones.
Europe remains the biggest region for Nokia phones sales, Seiche said; India, Russia and Indonesia are its biggest country markets.
The Nokia 8 is the company’s flagship phone, priced at €749 euros and designed to compete with Samsung’s and Huawei’s premium models. A new, 4G-ready version of Nokia’s 8110 is priced at €79.
Nokia 8 is available in April, the revamped 8110 in May. The 1990s throwback model comes in two colour choices, classic black or banana yellow, a play on how its keyboard slid out, inspiring the nickname “banana phone”.
Nokia Corp, once the world’s dominant phone maker, sold its handset business to Microsoft in 2014 and is now focused on telecom network equipment.
HMD took over the Nokia feature phone business from Microsoft in 2016 and struck a deal with Nokia Oyj to use the brand on smartphones.
Meanwhile, Samsung Electronics Co Ltd unveiled its flagship Galaxy S9 smartphone with an emphasis on visual applications for social media, hoping to attract tech savvy young consumers to weather a market slowdown.
With the global smartphone market set to stay flat or even shrink after meagre growth of 1% last year, vendors are focusing on features designed to encourage consumers to ditch their old phones earlier than they would have previously.
Samsung launched the S9 at the mobile gadget fair in Barcelona, attracting thousands of reporters to see how the world’s biggest smartphone maker could innovate in a category in which the big players are technologically closer than ever.
DJ Koh, Samsung’s president of IT and mobile communications, said the most important function of a phone today was “visual communication”, and the Galaxy S9 had been designed for the visual and social generation.
It features improved cameras, an artificial intelligence-powered voice tool, and social media functions that are easier to deploy than previous offerings.
New features include an automatic super-slow motion camera setting that looks primed to show up on Instagram feeds soon, and software that turns selfies into instant emojis.
Analyst Ben Wood from CCS Insight said the S9 and larger screened S9 Plus were all about incremental gains over the S8.
“The S9 underlines the dilemma all leading smartphone makers are facing. Innovation in smartphones has plateaued and now it is all about marginal gains be that screen technology, camera features and processing power.
“This is potentially a tough sell for Samsung but the real goal of the S9 is making an already good product even better as Samsung takes the fight to Apple.”
Huawei Technologies Co Ltd, Samsung’s Chinese rival which ranked third globally in sales last year, launched a notebook PC and two Android tablets earlier. It is launching its new flagship in Paris next month.
“With the absence of any flagship smartphone announcement from any of its major competitors, Samsung had a great marketing window of opportunity to claim leadership in the high-end smartphone market, coming back in the race with Apple’s iPhone X,” said Forrester analyst Thomas Husson.
But he expected Huawei to launch a highly competitive new smartphone differentiated by the use of more advanced Artificial Intelligence technologies and more aggressive pricing.
“To truly lead the space, I continue to believe Samsung must accelerate its transition towards more content, services, software innovation and partnerships.”
Samsung’s AI-powered Bixby service allows S9 users to point its camera to translate a foreign-language sign, without having to swipe through menus or choose settings every time.
Samsung also plans to boost smartphone accessories such as wireless chargers and mobile docking station that allows smartphone features on desktop, a senior Samsung executive said.
Younghee Lee, head of Samsung’s Marketing for the Mobile Business, declined to provide a sales forecast for the S9.
Research firm Counterpoint forecasts it will sell 43 million sets in 2018, 23% more than the 35 million S8 models shipped last year.
Global smartphone sales saw an unprecedented decline of 9% in the fourth quarter, averaging 2017 growth to just 1% – a far cry from growth of about 40% between 2011 and 2015, according to research provider Strategy Analytics.
While Samsung kept its supremacy over Apple Inc with about 21% of market share, Counterpoint says it faces tough competition after it lost ground in markets such as India, China and Western Europe in the fourth quarter.
Chinese rivals such as Huawei and Xiaomi Inc are making major inroads in these markets, aided by strong sales of affordable products that boast many high-end features and sturdy design.
Lee said Samsung’s huge scale and its “agility to listen and learn” ensured it would continue to grow in China and India.
The two versions of the Galaxy S9 have 6.2-inch (15.8cm) and 5.8-inch wrap-around screens, and will go on sale on March 16 in most countries.
– Reuters