HMD continues to throw interesting ideas into the mix as it launches itself as both an old and new smartphone brand for consumers this week.
Since it holds the licence to make Nokia phones but appeared to have paused that part of its strategy, it looked for all the world like we wouldn't be getting a new Nokia phone any time soon.
Now though, a report from 91mobiles suggests a reversal of course – or a lineup that is simply so complicated it would have been hard to guess at.
It would seem that HMD does indeed plan to release some new Nokia phones in the near future. However, these phones will seemingly be a sort of odd addendum to its new lineup of HMD's own-branded handsets.
HMD's main phones will be available as you'd expect from a modern manufacturer – online and in stores as widely as possible.
The Nokia smartphones it plans will apparently be available exclusively in stores, and won't sell online in any capacity, which is a pretty kooky twist.
There's a good chance that the Nokia models will also only launch in India, and they're reportedly going to be more expensive than their HMD counterparts, too. That makes them seem somewhat less than desirable.
This will doubtless have been the result of extensive market testing and research to work out what price points will make HMD's phones land the best.
This all does still seem to fly somewhat in the face of the brand's efforts to demonstrate that it is an exciting and attractive alternative, independent of Nokia earlier this week though, with a snazzy new website and brand identity to flaunt.
Still, it's great news for anyone who felt a pang of regret when they learned that Nokia was probably headed for the scrapheap at least for the next few years.
HMD apparently holds the Nokia licence until 2026, so even if we only get a few phones under its name in the next couple of years, that might also make for the hope that one of the forefathers of mobile phones can fly under its own banner again one day.
