Despite Microsoft having announced its plans to sell the Nokia brand to Foxconn subsidiary FIH Mobile, the company has taken the surprising step of unveiling a brand new feature phone, with the tech giant revealing the new Nokia 216 and Nokia 216 Dual Slim.
Retailing at $37, the Nokia 216 is a budget handset that is similar in appearance to the Nokia 108, with its simple design resembling a device from the mid-’00s rather than 2016. As you’d expect from its low price point, the 216 is only equipped with a 2.4-inch QVGA display and two 0.3-megapixel cameras, though it does have a headphone jack so at least it’s beaten the iPhone 7 in that department.
The device’s commercial boasts about how it “stores up to 2000 contacts,” pointing out its “color matched keys” and how users can “download apps and games”. It’s basically like stepping into a time portal to 2005.
Microsoft’s then-CEO Steve Ballmer saw through a deal that saw the company purchasing Nokia for $7.2 billion, as part of an effort to shift Microsoft’s focus towards hardware and gadgets. Unfortunately, Nokia’s sales were plummeting even before the deal was made, with the acquisition going down as one of the largest bombs in the past decade of the tech industry.
Though Microsoft has conducted a $7.4 billion clear out of the Nokia brand, the company is seemingly still looking to eke out a profit with the budget Nokia 216, with cheap smartphones becoming increasingly desirable in regions such as China.
Check out the commercial for the smartphone below:
