HMD just launched four dumb phones with a Nokia badge and an AI button


AI has been pushed on all your latest smartphones, laptops, browsers, and anything else manufacturers can cram it in. Now, HMD has decided that even your basic dumb phone shouldn’t be left out either. The company is bringing back the Nokia branding for this one, and yes, you also get a keypad.

HMD has quietly unveiled four Nokia-branded 4G feature phones, namely the Nokia 210 4G, Nokia 200 4G, Nokia 215 4G 2nd Edition, and Nokia 235 4G 2nd Edition. All four have physical number pads and a dedicated button for activating a voice-based AI assistant. Press it, speak a command, and the phone can switch on its torch, set an alarm or reminder, open the camera, or call someone from your contacts. It can also answer basic questions, offer simple recipes, and help with common foreign-language phrases.

Is this a smarter dumb phone?

Feature phones remain useful for people who want longer battery life, fewer distractions, simpler menus, or an affordable way to stay connected. They are also commonly used by older customers and people who may find layers of menus harder to navigate. Voice controls can make those devices considerably easier to operate. Asking the phone to call someone or set an alarm removes several keypad presses and menu screens.

This makes it a lot more practical here than another AI image generating feature crammed into your modern day smartphones. The new Nokias also support Xpress Chat, which enables video calls, voice messages, group chats, photos, and emojis. Smartphone users can join conversations through the free Xpress Chat app on Android and iOS.

HMD’s Cloud Phone Service supplies shortcuts for videos, games, weather forecasts, news, and sports results without requiring conventional smartphone apps or large amounts of local storage. This basically means that your simple feature phone isn’t being left behind anymore.

It’s got one bad news…. subscription

The most 2026 detail is buried in the fine print. HMD includes a 180-day AI assistant trial, after which service fees apply. Customers also need a smartphone app to buy the subscription. Yes, the AI-powered dumb phone may eventually require access to a smartphone so its owner can continue paying for the AI assistant.

The four models share familiar feature-phone hardware, including 4G connectivity, USB-C charging, headphone jacks, removable 1,450mAh batteries, and microSD support. The Nokia 210 4G and Nokia 200 4G use 2.4-inch displays and promise up to 13 days of standby time. Meanwhile, the Nokia 215 and 235 offer larger 2.8-inch screens and up to 12 days of standby.

The Nokia 235 is the best-equipped camera model with a VGA selfie camera and a 2MP rear camera. The Nokia 210 has front and rear VGA cameras, while the Nokia 200 and Nokia 215 focus on the front camera for video calls. The pricing and regional availability details are still at large, but HMD is making sure that dumb phones are no longer rejecting modern technology.



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I reluctantly upgraded from my Pixel 4a in late 2024, which means I spent four years clinging to a phone that still felt like a phone. Part of that was the size. The Pixel 4a was small enough to use without performing thumb yoga, a disappearing luxury now that flagships have settled into pocket-tablet territory. That’s an argument for another day.

The uglier issue is what happened after I moved on. In January 2025, Google pushed an automatic Android 13 update to Pixel 4a phones. Google’s own support page says the update reduced available battery capacity and affected charging performance on some impacted devices. Reddit users were less polite. One r/Pixel4a post said the battery suddenly had “around 40% of its former capacity” after the patch.

For poor ol’ 4a, that was basically the death knell.

When an update becomes the problem

A dying battery is normal. A four-year-old phone needing service isn’t exactly a scandal. Batteries age, screens fail, ports loosen, and gravity remains undefeated.

This felt different. The phone didn’t simply get old in someone’s pocket. Its usable life changed after a company-controlled patch, and the owner was left to deal with the result. The Verge reported that the update was tied to overheating-risk mitigation and reduced charging capacity by more than 50% on affected units. Battery safety is real. It still doesn’t erase the experience of waking up to a phone that suddenly can’t survive the day.

That’s what update death looks like. Software doesn’t just support aging hardware anymore. It can also decide when that hardware becomes miserable to keep using.

When every patch feels haunted

My wife, who’s rocking an S24 Ultra, has a different version of the same dread. She keeps running into Reddit threads about Samsung Galaxy phones and the dreaded green line, that bright vertical scar that makes a screen look like it has been reassigned to a cyberpunk prop department. One r/S23 user wrote that a green line appeared on a carefully maintained phone after about a year and a half, then said Samsung service quoted a screen replacement because the warranty was over. Another Samsung Community post claimed a green-line issue appeared after an August update, with the display allegedly working perfectly before it.

Reddit isn’t a forensic lab with avatars. A green line can come from boring hardware failure, not corporate villainy with a release calendar. Still, the anxiety is real. People don’t only worry that an update will move a button or ruin a camera setting. They worry it might be the thing that nudges a working device from “old” to “not worth repairing.”

Modern gadgets are never fully handed over. They keep phoning home. They keep asking for patches. They keep depending on decisions made long after the receipt has faded. Ownership now comes with a quiet asterisk.

The graveyard got software updates

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The post-warranty graveyard used to be easy to recognize: cracked screens, swollen batteries, and charging ports full of pocket lint. Now the graveyard has paperwork, compatibility warnings, and software that slowly stops cooperating. The gadget can still turn on. It can still look fine on a desk. Then one day the company changes what “usable” means, and the thing you paid for starts practicing being trash.



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