A report last week stated that Nokia was planning to start making smartphones again, when it’s non-compete with Microsoft ended on December 31st, 2015. But Nokia released a statement yesterday that flat-out denies the report, describing it as false and inaccurate.
The statement is blunt, to the point and should put a stop to all these rumours: “Nokia notes recent news reports claiming the company communicated an intention to manufacture consumer handsets out of a R&D facility in China. These reports are false, and include comments incorrectly attributed to a Nokia Networks executive. Nokia reiterates it currently has no plans to manufacture or sell consumer handsets.”
Re/code’s original article that started all these rumours suggested that Nokia’s plan for the future was based on designing exciting devices, then licensing the designs, along with the Nokia name, to a Chinese manufacturer. The manufacturer’s statement just put a bullet in the back of that’s ideas head, they did definitely say currently though, which means they aren’t saying no forever.
I’d say a resurgence of the Nokia smartphone is highly unlike, they were once a company renowned for the reliability of their phones. They never succeeded in the smartphone market being outsold at every turn by its Android and Apple rivals.
Nokia is still working on projects not directly related to smartphones, like the HERE mapping, network infrastructure hardware, and even virtual reality.