HMD Arrow Is Launching in India Soon, and It’s Poised to Miss the Mark

May. 13, 2024

Remember Nokia? Of course, who doesn’t? Well, Nokia stopped making phones a while ago but the brand’s legacy was carried forward by a Finnish companycalled HMD. However, theNokia brand died its third deathrecently when HMD Global announced it’s going to launch mobile devices under its brand name. Last month, the HMD Pulse series of phones finallylandedin Europe. Now,HMD is gearing up for its India debutwith the vanilla HMD Pulse set to arrive as HMD Arrow. And I suggest not having high hopes for it.

Going by that, we can expect the HMD Arrow to bepriced somewhere around Rs. 10,000 to Rs. 12,000in India. At around Rs 12,000, this might not be worth our time. There are some pretty solid options available in the same price bracket. So, don’t you dare believe HMD’s“striking a chord of affordability and performance,”marketing talk.

You also get thePOCO X6 Neoin this budget, which doesn’t just come with the Dimensity 6080 but also a 120Hz AMOLED display with Gorilla Glass 5 protection. There’s also a whopping 108MP-backed dual rear camera setup as well as 33W fast charging, among other commendable things on the specs front.

If HMD Arrow launches in thesub-Rs 15,000price segment, it will be lost in the sea of phones that offer significantly more value for your hard-earned money.

If it launches in theunder Rs 15,000segment, the device will be lost in the sea of phones that offer significantly more value for your hard-earned money. Recently, we made a video about the best phones to get under Rs 15,000, so you can check that out if you are in the market for a new phone.

Let’s say that HMD launches the phone under Rs 10,000 in India. Even then, phones like the POCO M6 Pro 5G, the toned-down M6 5G, and even the Redmi 13C seem like much better options. Most importantly, these are 5G phones I’m talking about.

The point is that HMD Global has not learned from its past mistakes, and even after launching new mobile devices under its banner, they are failing to understand the demands of the Indian audience (much likeGoogle with the Pixel 8a pricing).

The absence of 5G, adequate storage & RAM, an AMOLED or FHD+ display, and a capable enough processor only suggests that the HMD Arrow will tank in the Indian market. Yes, the self-repairable kit it may come with in India will probably help you play some Mechanix with the phone. But, that’s about it.

Sagnik is a tech aficionado who can never say “no” to dipping his toes into unknown waters of tech or reviewing the latest gadgets. He is also a hardcore gamer, having played everything from Snake Xenzia to Dead Space Remake.