HMD, or Human Cellular Gadgets for brief, is launching a Barbie-branded flip cellphone in July.
HMD
BARCELONA — Not but bored with the Barbie film?
Quickly, you can get a flip cellphone from the blockbuster toy franchise.
The corporate behind Nokia-branded smartphones, HMD, quick for Human Cellular Gadgets, says it’s launching a Barbie flip cellphone this summer season, in partnership with toy maker Mattel.
Mattel is the corporate behind the Barbie style doll assortment. It has produced and bought the favored youngsters’ toys and equipment since 1959.
The machine, which is slated for launch this summer season, “guarantees to embody the classic stylish of the unique lady empowerment model with a touch of pink and naturally, sparkle,” in line with a HMD press launch.
It will not be linked to the web, making it a throwback to the “dumb telephones” of yesteryear earlier than smartphones turned fashionable.
So-called dumb telephones have change into extra fashionable, particularly with Gen Z shoppers, who’re making an attempt to restrict their digital exercise and transfer away from poisonous content material discovered on platforms like Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, and YouTube.
Lars Silberbauer, HMD’s chief advertising and marketing officer, mentioned it was “time to swap reel life for actual life and take a breather from all of the interruptions of notifications.”
The machine appears to be like like an ordinary flip cellphone with buttons slightly than a contact display screen, and is available in a sizzling pink shade, resembling the enduring pink flip cellphone accent that comes with many Barbie dolls.
It’s the first machine being bought by HMD underneath its new model title, Human Cellular Gadgets — or HMD for brief. It is a step away from Nokia which is the model HMD usually has used to promote its dumb telephones and smartphones.
Beneath a revamp, HMD plans to nonetheless promote Nokia telephones. However it’ll associate with different manufacturers to promote telephones that solely signify their model, slightly than HMD, with the corporate appearing as a form of white label {hardware} maker behind the scenes.
HMD was spun out of Microsoft after the U.S. tech large determined to promote the Nokia cellphone model, which it first bought in 2014, to a bunch of former Nokia executives. HMD International was established in 2016.
Barbie mania turned a phenomenon in 2023 as a consequence of a blockbuster film that includes the likes of Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling, and Will Ferrell. The movie pulled in over $1.4 billion on the field workplace, making it the highest-grossing movie of 2023.
