Nokia 'dies'... again

When HMD announced it was starting to make Nokia phones, the idea was exciting—Nokia would become an Android OEM like everyone else, a necessary shift after years of floundering under Microsoft on Windows phones. But after all the hype, the old story seems to be repeating itself with the Nokia brand. HMD has scaled back its operations significantly and is now officially leaving the US market. The reasons are probably familiar.

HMD has not only cut its operations in the United States, but has also officially stopped selling both its own HMD-branded devices and Nokia phones in the country. In a recent statement, the Chinese technology group confirmed its decision to "reduce its presence" in the US and many other markets. It's too early to tell, but this time it seems to be a complete withdrawal of HMD in general and the Nokia brand in particular from the US consumer market. The company's online store in the US has stopped working, and product pages have also removed purchase options. Users can still find a few phone models on third-party retailers like Amazon, but this is just inventory that is expected to sell out in the next few days/weeks.

The company cited a 'challenging geopolitical and economic environment' as the reason, a diplomatic way of saying… tariffs. While the US no longer imposes hundreds of percent tariffs on Chinese goods, import duties remain. The US government has recently stepped up tariffs on most countries around the world. HMD is one of the most diversified OEMs, manufacturing not only in China and India but also in Europe (two years ago).

But with tariffs being imposed on most countries, not just China, the negative impact is inevitable. Perhaps HMD has weighed the impact of the tariffs against its sales in the US (where the brand is also not very well known) and decided it wasn't worth continuing to import. Or maybe there was another reason – we'll never know.

Sadly, we're slowly going to see Nokia phones disappear from the market. HMD itself is planning to focus on building its own brand rather than 'begging for the past'. The last Nokia model seems to be the Nokia XR21, which was released in 2023 – and has since been discontinued. HMD is still releasing new phones, including feature phones, but they're no longer branded as Nokia. So it's not really a big loss, at least for those who love the Nokia name.

Micah Soto

Update 12 July 2025