Struggling smartphone Company HMD Global, who recently dropped the Nokia brand is now getting into smartphone accessories, with the Company also set to use the sidelines of the Mobile World Congress event in Barcelona to make an announcement about a new self-repair smartphone, new buds and possibly backup batteries, there is also talk of a ruggedised smartphone.
The Company is planning to launch a TWS earbud called ‘Ampd Buds’ under the HMD brand, what’s not known is which third party audio manufacturer the Company is working with.
HMD is not an official participant at Mobile World Congress, however the European based Company have sent out invitations for an event that will take place on Sunday, March 2nd, at Spotify Camp Nou, FC Barcelona’s legendary stadium., the home ground of Real Madrid who have a commercial relationship with HMD.
HMD already has a partnership with FC Barcelona, with the Company tipped to also launch a new HMD Pulse Pro smartphone.
A recent European Union Intellectual Property Office filing reveals that the Company who moved to their own HMD branded smartphones after they lost the licence to Nokia branded devices reveals that the Company is toying with the release of six new devices this year.
Whether carriers and retailers such as JB Hi Fi will range the new devices is yet to be decided.
Currently the most expensive HMD device being sold by JB Hi Fi is a $599 HMD Skyline.
The Company is also looking at getting into PowerBank and rugged smartphones.
As for their HMD Ampd Buds, they are designed around a flat stem-style design with a connecting module bump that houses the battery and drivers.
Taking a leaf out of JBL’s popular charging cases the HMD version has built-in magnets that allow the case to be easily attached to an HMD Skyline phone as well as Samsung and Motorola devices with a magnetic charging design.
This allows for reverse wireless charging from the phone to the earbuds.
At this stage the battery capacity of the charging case has not been revealed.
What we do know is that the earbuds have 35mAh batteries, which are claimed to provide up to 5 hours of music playback time on a single charge.
It’s tipped that the buds will be released at the Companies Barcelona event.
