The company is made up of the mobile phone business that the Nokia Corporation sold to Microsoft in 2014, then bought back in 2016.

[5] The HMD brand was initially only used for corporate purposes and does not appear in advertising, whereas the name "Nokia Mobile" is used on social media.

[12][13][14] Nokia has an investment[15] in HMD, and remains a partner, setting mandatory requirements and providing patents and technologies, in return for royalty payments.

[16][17] HMD uses a marketing strategy advertising Nokia phones as "pure, secure and up to date" (referring to a stock Android interface and its commitment to fast updates) as well as brand trust and nostalgia.

Its initial partnership with Microsoft to use its operating system did not help either as Windows Phone's mobile app offerings were not as comprehensive as the ones available on Apple's iOS and Google's Android.

Microsoft used the brand primarily as a means of introducing its Windows Phone mobile operating system, which was itself struggling to establish any kind of significant market presence.

[30] Some factories of Microsoft Mobile, including one located in Vietnam, had been sold to Foxconn, the world's largest electronics manufacturer.

In addition the company is backed by a Luxembourg-based private equity fund called Smart Connect LP, run by Jean-François Baril, who was senior vice president of Nokia from 1999 to 2012.

[38] On 6 July 2017 HMD partnered with Carl Zeiss AG to provide camera lens optics for Nokia smartphones.

Its most distinguishing features are Dual Sight, allowing live streaming with both the front and rear Zeiss cameras (referred to as "bothie", a pun on "selfie"), and OZO Audio, which contains spatial 360° audio technology derived from Nokia's high-end OZO camera.

These devices are direct successors to the mid-upper range Xseries used for the touchscreen Symbian smartphones In late August 2018, HMD acquired PureView branding, the imaging technology brand which had previously been implemented on high-end Nokia/Lumia smartphones since the Nokia 808 PureView in 2012.

On 19 March 2020, HMD held an online event and announced Nokia 8.3 5G, the first ever Nokia-branded 5G smartphone, and the "world's first truly global 5G device".

"[62] In August 2019 Counterpoint research said that "Nokia Leads the Global Rankings in Updating Smartphone Software and Security [out of 3rd party Android OEMs]".

[63] However, with the increasing product portfolio Nokia could not keep to this high standards and updates are delayed longer and distributed less frequently.

[69] Under CEO Stephen Elop the company chose to halt the MeeGo project in favour of adopting Windows Phone, which resulted in a partnership with Microsoft in 2011, with Symbian to be relegated.

Google's chief executive Eric Schmidt confirmed that the company held extensive "confidential negotiations" with Nokia to encourage using Android.

[73] In December 2013 there were leaks of a Nokia Android smartphone codenamed Normandy, along with the cancelled Meltineme Project on Lumia hardware,[74] which was eventually introduced as the Nokia X series in February 2014, featuring a heavily customized version of the Android Open Source Project (AOSP) and released in emerging markets.

[75] After the sale, the Nokia Technologies division developed the N1 Android tablet, featuring the Z Launcher interface, released in China in 2015.

Newer phone models with "Series 30+" platform are said to be based on RTOS, which use the graphical user interface similar to the Smart Feature OS in Nokia 3310 3G, albeit with the lack of animation and J2ME applications support.

This partnership marks the first time that Nokia Series 30+ devices are capable of accessing YouTube, Shorts, TikTok, Google Sign-in Services, and real-time modern web applications.

[90][91][92] When HMD was formed in 2016, it stated that it wanted to develop phones that stay loyal to Nokia's popular heritage of "design, robustness and reliability".

[100] This device was still a feature phone but it shipped with a fresh operating system, colored display, and Nokia native applications.

"[108] The result of a Nokia 6 build has been called an "aluminium unibody with the highest level of visual and structural quality.

"[110] HMD have also been initially praised for its commitment of providing zero-day and monthly security patches, as well as stock Android without an additional user interface.

[citation needed] The Nokia 3310 reboot has been praised as a clever marketing strategy that revived interest in the brand,[114][115] with one analyst calling it a "PR stunt.

[123] HMD executive Juho Sarvikas said on 16 August 2017 that the company had shipped "millions of units of the 3, 5 and 6," with demand "far outstripping" supply.

[130] In Q3 2018, HMD had the biggest year-on-year sales growth of 71% to 4.8 million units shipped that quarter, making it the 9th largest smartphone vendor worldwide.

[133] The original CEO was Arto Nummela, who joined Nokia in 1994 and served in several positions including product creation and portfolio before moving to Microsoft Mobile when it was formed 2014.

[134] On 19 July 2017 Nummela left the company by "mutual agreement", leading to the president, Seiche, to become acting CEO.

[135][136] On 15 August 2016, Pekka Rantala, former CEO of Rovio Entertainment, became HMD's chief marketing officer,[137] commenting that Nokia will "rise again."