The following smartphone to come back from Nokia’s mobile icon is a phone that users can repair themselves.
The Nokia G22, developed by the Finnish manufacturer HMD Global, is a normal smartphone with a 6.5-inch screen and a 50-megapixel important camera.
However it’s the outer shell and the within the phone that make it unique. The handset contains a recyclable plastic back that could be easily removed to interchange damaged components.
Armed with tools and repair guides from hardware repair company iFixit, the user can remove and replace the phone’s back cover, battery, screen and charging port.
Adam Ferguson, head of product marketing at HMD Global, said the process would cost on average 30% lower than replacing an old phone with a latest one.
Smartphone firms are increasingly working to make phones last more in the face of pressure from regulators to make electronic devices more sustainable.
For instance, lawmakers in the European Parliament are calling for laws that may force manufacturers to grant users a “right to repair”.
Right to Repair refers to a movement amongst consumer rights activists to make it easier for consumers to repair their gadgets.
The European Commission’s Green Latest Deal goals to remodel the bloc right into a so-called circular economy by 2050, whereby just about all physical goods could be reused, repaired, reused or recycled to reduce waste.
Phone repair particularly has change into more complex as a result of how tightly the battery and other components are sealed with glue.
Apple, which has long been reluctant to vary its repair policy, decided in November 2021 to launch a self-service repair program that permits customers to purchase parts to repair their very own devices.
In December, the iPhone maker prolonged the program to eight European countries, including Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain, Sweden and the UK.
“As consumers increasingly demand more sustainable and longer-lasting devices, the ability to repair smartphones easily and affordably will change into a key differentiator in the market,” said Ben Wood, principal analyst at CCS Insight.
About half of Europe’s cell phone owners would have their device repaired if it broke outside of warranty, Wood said, citing CSS Insight research.
The Nokia G22 has one drawback – it only meets the IP52 standard for resistance to harmful substances, which implies that it is just not proof against water damage.
Ferguson said he couldn’t achieve this feature for the price of the phone.
The G22, which shall be released in the UK on March 8, starts at £149.99 ($179.19). Alternative parts could be purchased individually from iFixit. For the battery it’ll cost £22.99; £44.99 for the display and £18.99 for the charging port.
Ferguson said consumers would pay a mean of 30% less to interchange damaged parts than to purchase a latest phone.
Nokia is just not the only mobile brand developing climate-friendly smartphones. For instance, the Dutch company Fairphone sells a wide range of telephones that use repairable and replaceable parts.
Once a titan in the cell phone industry, Nokia took second place as electronics giants Samsung and Apple climbed to the top of the rankings. Currently, the company is principally known for its telecommunications infrastructure sold to operators.
nokia sold its mobile business to Microsoft for €5.4 billion ($5.8 billion) in 2014. The unit was later bought by HMD, arrange by Nokia executives in Finland, for $350 million. Nokia charges a licensing fee for every handset sold by HMD.
HMD said it also plans to extend production of its handsets in Europe. The corporate didn’t specify the location, citing security reasons. In a press release, the company said it was “developing capabilities and processes to bring production of Nokia 5G devices to Europe in 2023.”
The move underscores the ongoing movement of huge tech firms into their supply chains from China and elsewhere in East Asia.
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