HMD announces Barbie Flip Phone at MWC 2024 alongside rebranding plans; Know what’s coming
Finnish smartphone manufacturer HMD announced its rebranding plans at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2024 Barcelona. The company's name now stands for ‘Human Mobile Devices'. For the last few years, HMD (formerly HMD Global) has been Nokia smartphones. As part of its new multi-brand vision, it aims to create ‘HMD original devices' while it continues to sell Nokia phones. More importantly, the company also announced plans for a Barbie flip phone!
At the MWC 2024, HMD announced a collaboration with Mattel and with Barbie. The first project of this partnership is a Barbie Flip Phone that is set to launch in Summer 2024. However, it will not be a smartphone. HMD says this retro smartphone will provide a ‘much-needed digital detox' with feature-phone capabilities.
The company says the Barbie Flip Phone will be the ‘hottest accessory' this summer. Announcing this product, Ruth Henriquez, Head of Consumer Products, Publishing, and LBE, Mattel EMEA said, “At the heart of Mattel is design and innovation, and this latest collaboration is another step forward in that direction. The Barbie x HMD launch promises to be an exciting moment for Barbie fans of all ages, we're excited to flip the switch and unveil it to the world at Mobile World Congress. ”
HMD will also bring out an iconic Nokia phone, similar to how it relaunched the Nokia 8110 and the Nokia 3310.
Alongside the Barbie Flip Phone, HMD also announced a fix-it-yourself movement, bolstering the repairability movement that it started at MWC 2023. As part of this initiative, it aims to make smartphones easily repairable, so much so that users can do the repairs themselves instead of having to take them to a repair centre.
James Robinson, HMD VP Europe, Americas and Enterprise said, “As more and more people seek out easy-to-repair devices so they can keep their phone longer - and save hassle or delays when fixes are needed - we're excited to make that process as easy as possible, starting this summer.”
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