The phones were originally released in December 2015,[1][2] and sold again by HMD Global in November 2018.

Initially, the phones were only released in black and white, but HMD would later add dark blue and light gray color options, after the release of Nokia 106 (2018) in November 2018.

[3][4] The phone comes with a 2.8 inch TFT screen, 2 MP cameras with flash and Nokia Series 30+ operating system.

[2][5] The Series 30+ is a licensed software platform and interface licensed from MediaTek, not part of Nokia's previous Series 30 platform.

In 2024, HMD Global announced the 2024 version of Nokia 230, with metal design similar to the original version, but with additional metal accents surrounding the external speaker, flash LED, and camera, and supports USB-C charging.