This year, four big brand names associated with smartphones entered into the smart TV market. The brands are Motorola, OnePlus, Huawei, and Honor. Now they are about to be joined by a fifth company – Nokia.
It has been reported that India’s Flipkart has partnered with Nokia to launch smart TVs that will carry the Nokia brand name. Flipkart is one of India’s biggest online shopping platforms and they will handle manufacturing, distribution, as well as sales of these Nokia-branded TVs. The partnership is expected to create thousands of new jobs.
Flipkart and Nokia are not the only big names associated with the TVs. It has also been reported that the TVs will have JBL-developed audio technology. JBL is owned by Harman International Industries which itself is owned by Samsung Electronics. This partnership is also a first for the audio company in India’s TV market and it should translate into better audio for smart TVs; a feature a lot of consumers complain about according to Flipkart.
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We are delighted that Flipkart, the leading e-commerce company in the country, will bring the first-ever Nokia branded Smart TVs to India. Today marks the start of an exciting new chapter for the Nokia brand in a new category. And where better to start than in India, where our brand has been trusted for quality, design and reliability.
There is no info on when we should expect the first Nokia-branded TV neither are there details about features such as screen size(s), screen type, and operating system.
Hi Abhishek. Nokia is working closely with Flipkart to ensure its products will meet the high expectations that consumers in India have for any product carrying the Nokia brand. We do the same with HMD for their phones.
— Mark Durrant (@markdurrant) November 6, 2019
It is important to state that this is a licensing agreement just as Nokia has one with HMD Global. The TVs are not affiliated to HMD Global. However, Nokia itself will be working closely with Flipkart to ensure that consumers get the high quality they associate with the brand.
The launch of Nokia-branded TVs means more options for consumers and even better deals. Xiaomi currently has the largest share of India’s smart TV market. In September it launched the premium Mi TV 4X series and the more affordable Mi TV 4A 40” TV. Motorola’s own TVs start at $196 and go up to $910 for the UHD models. OnePlus’s own OnePlus TV Q1 and OnePlus TV Q1 Pro sell for about $985 and $1400 respectively when converted to US dollars.
Flipkart currently sells Xiaomi’s Mi TVs and Motorola-branded TVs on its platform. It probably won’t sell them anymore when it launches its Nokia-branded TVs.
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