Nokia-branded phones are all set to make a global comeback next year. HMD Global, which had entered into an exclusive 10-year brand licensing agreement with Nokia for mobile phones and tablets globally, earlier this year, on Thursday said it would launch the Android-based Nokia smartphone in the first half of 2017.
In 2014, U.S.-based Microsoft had acquired Nokia’s handset business for $7.2 billion. It later sold the branding rights to HMD Global and contract manufacturer Foxconn for $350 million. Nokia’s non-compete clause with Microsoft (after the latter took over the company) expires in 2017. The company will move away from Microsoft’s Windows OS in favour of Google’s Android OS. “In future, Nokia smartphones will utilise Google’s Android operating system, currently deployed on 86 per cent of the world’s smartphones,” HMD Global said in a statement.