Nokia appears to be shopping for a new smartphone partner after they parted ways with HMD who is still refusing to admit that they no longer have an ongoing contract after next year.

The begging question is whether the Company is looking for a licencing partner or are about to return to the smartphone market as Nokia with a manufacturing partner such as Foxconn.

This week Nokia’s community manager posted an open call on the r/Nokia subreddit, inviting “large-scale mobile manufacturers” to explore partnership opportunities via nokia.com/partners.

What we now know is that HMD’s licensing deal expires in 2026, giving Nokia the freedom to seek new manufacturing partners or come back into the market themselves.

Shortly after the message appeared it was removed with speculation that Nokia is serious about costing a potential return to the market under the management of a new CEO.

Justin Hotard, who took over from Pekka Lundmark on April 1, 2025, previously served as the Executive Vice President and General Manager of the Data Centre & AI Group at Intel.

Current HMD smartphone partner who is still trying to shift Nokia branded products, is desperately trying to establish a new branding for their devices with little success with the Company recently forced to pull out of the US market.

The deleted post has stirred fresh speculation about Nokia’s plans moving forward.

(AAP Image/NOKIA)

In reaching out to potential manufacturing partners on Reddit and the fact that Nokia floated the idea publicly suggests it’s at least considering a return to the market.

HMD who currently has an expensive licencing deal with the owners of the Barbie brand is currently scaling back its operations, with speculation that the business is under financial pressure with forecast revenues set to fall due to the loss of Nokia branded product sales from December 2025.

In the past Nokia partnered with Foxconn and Wingtech in the production of Nokia branded smartphones before they moved to a licencing formula.

Now due in part to Nokia’s strong patent portfolio, especially in 5G technology and Wi Fi networking the Company is in a strong position to deliver unique high performance devices with the Company believed to have already held discussions with potential processor partners.

The Company already has several major licencing deals in place, and recently addressed speculation that Samsung was set to acquire their networking business, they later denied the rumour.

Recently Nokia agreed a multi-year patent licensing agreement with Samsung, allowing the South Korean electronics giant to use the Finnish vendor’s video technologies in its televisions.

This will result in Nokia receiving royalty payments from Samsung.

The Company also has licensing deals for Nokia wireless technology with Chinese brands Honor, Oppo and vivo who were among several smartphone vendors who Nokia Technologies struck licensing deals with during 2024, adding to agreements with Huawei, Apple, and Samsung.

Nokia is scheduled to release its Q2 2025 financial results tonight Australian time.

This week Nokia shares fell over 8% in early European trade after the company cut full-year guidance.

The Finnish telecom-equipment company said late Tuesday that currency fluctuations since the first quarter, in particular the weaker U.S. dollar, as well as the current tariff landscape, will weigh on profit this year there was no mention of a fall in licensing revenue from smartphones.