Nokia phones outsold Google, OnePlus and HTC at the end of last year

Thomas McMullan Read more February 14, 2018

Nokia may not be actually manufacturing phone like it once was, but the brand name looks to be having something of a late resurgence. According to revised report from industry analysis firm Counterpoint, Nokia-branded handsets made by HMD Global were amongst the biggest-selling phones in Q4 2017.

Nokia phones outsold Google, OnePlus and HTC at the end of last year

Citing a series of tweets by Counterpoint analyst Neil Shah, TechRadar is reporting that HMD Global made sales of 4.4 million handsets at the tail end of last year, putting it in 11th global position in the list of companies with the highest market share.

Those figures put Nokia phone sales in 2017’s last quarter above HTC, Google, Sony, OnePlus and Lenovo, to name a few. Shah calls this a “huge comeback story”, noting that Nokia actually bagged the number one market share in Vietnam, and number three in the UK.

Last year saw HMD Global drop a number of Nokia phones, including a trio of Android handsets (Nokia 3, Nokia 5 and Nokia 6), the Nokia 8 and the revamp of its iconic Nokia 3310. The latter, coupled with nostalgia and Christmas gifting, may have something to do with Nokia’s late-year success – or it may be down to the manufacturer’s scattergun approach to budget handsets. Either way, if the figures are accurate, it’s good news for HMD Global.

There’s still a lot of space between Nokia’s current success and the numbers shipped by the likes of Huawei, Samsung and Apple, so it will be interesting to see where Nokia goes from here. HMD Global are expected to host a press conference at this year’s Mobile World Congress, and with the 3310 already out in the wild, there will be less nostalgia for the company to rest on for its future plans.