Nokia-maker HMD may be ahead of the curve with its repairable phone and European onshoring

However, HMD—not to be confused with Nokia, the telecommunications-equipment manufacturer—just made a couple of smartphone announcements that are worth flagging for how they play into wider trends. 

The first is about the new Nokia G22, which is a pretty standard affordable Android phone, except for one thing: You can remove the back to replace certain components if they break. HMD has partnered with iFixit for this, and people in Europe and Australia can easily buy replacement screens, batteries, and charge ports for the G22 to install themselves.

To a certain extent, this gives sustainability-minded European consumers a cheaper alternative to the Fairphone, which is also designed for easy repairability. Fairphone makes way more of its components replaceable—you can even swap out the cameras and loudspeakers in the Dutch firm’s devices—but it does seem the idea is spreading. EU lawmakers are pushing for this to become standard practice, by the way, but the European Commission hasn’t yet produced the “right to repair” proposal they’ve requested.

Meanwhile, with security and sustainability benefits in mind, HMD is taking its “first steps in a journey to become the first major global smartphone provider to bring manufacturing to Europe.” Cool! Where in Europe? “We’re not allowed to say which countries,” said chief marketing officer Lars Silberbauer in a slightly frustrating briefing last week. That’s for security reasons, apparently. 

What are the security benefits of onshoring some production from China and India? Again, no details because of security, but a “critical part” of the manufacturing process will happen in Europe, because some of HMD’s European customers want to be “able to visit these factories and see how it’s being produced.”

HMD already moved its data centers to Finland several years ago, to stay in line with EU privacy laws that demand the protection of Europeans’ personal data when it’s sent across the world (hi, U.S.). This latest move isn’t entirely analogous—Silberbauer told TechCrunch that HMD saw a “growth opportunity for the European market” and that existing production sites wouldn’t be affected—but it’s clear the company sees security and data-protection compliance as a differentiator in Europe. The first stage of the manufacturing shift will involve HMD’s Chinese partner shipping over components for European assembly, calibration, and testing, including security testing.

It remains to be seen whether any of HMD’s peers follow suit, but this is certainly the sort of development that Europe’s leaders are eager to see in their quest to achieve “digital sovereignty.” Silberbauer also told Reuters that “while we can’t discuss specific European subsidies, we collaborate with multiple parties in both the public and private sector in Europe to advocate for European manufacturing and R&D.”

This is all part of the same overall narrative that we’re seeing with the U.S. CHIPS Act, which is about to start doling out $39 billion in “manufacturing incentives” for local semiconductor production (the EU is poised to follow suit on that front, too). There’s suddenly a ton of money sloshing around, and, slowly, the tech world is starting to fragment.

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David Meyer

NEWSWORTHY

Layoffs at Twitter. The social media company cut around 200 jobs, about 10% of its remaining staff, according to a report in the New York Times. This latest round of layoffs brings the company’s headcount down from 7,500 before Elon Musk bought the company to now fewer than 2,000 staffers. The job losses affected product managers, data scientists, and engineers who worked on machine learning and site reliability, and the monetization infrastructure team lost 22 people. Esther Crawford, director of product management, reflected on being among the group laid off this weekend. “The worst take you could have from watching me go all in on Twitter 2.0 is that my optimism or hard work was a mistake,” she tweeted.

Snap and Meta enter the A.I. race. Snapchat Plus subscribers will soon have access to “My AI,” a chatbot powered by ChatGPT, The Verge reports. The perk for those paying $3.99 a month will appear on the app’s chat tab above chats with friends. CEO Evan Spiegel says the company has a goal of giving all Snap users access to the bot. And there’s another tool social media users will have to wait for. Meta is launching a tool for A.I. researchers to build chatbots known as LLaMA. CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced the move late last week, saying, “Meta is committed to this open model of research.”  

SpaceX launch delayed. About two and a half minutes before a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket was set to take off for six months, NASA announced that the mission was postponed owing to a glitch involving the ignition fluid that starts the rocket’s engines. When it eventually takes off, the four-person crew will carry out a science mission at the International Space Station.

Apple gets fined. A Russian antitrust case that alleged Apple abused its dominance in the mobile apps market resulted in the tech giant paying a $12.12 million fine, Reuters reports. Apple previously appealed the decision but ultimately complied with the order, Russia’s Federal Antimonopoly Service said.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

How to make the job search easier. Ex-staffers at tech companies have used LinkedIn and TikTok to share that they’ve been laid off, and it’s destigmatized the cuts for many. But experts warn that when sharing a job loss on social media, it’s important to not give off red flags to employers. They advise people to highlight achievements and resist the urge to rage post. Instead, show that you’re using time off to improve in some areas.  

From the article: 

Alistair Stirling, adviser at Stirling Careers Consultancy, said he always encourages his clients to do volunteer work and short courses while they’re on the hunt for their next role.

He explained that not only does it give people something to talk about–either in interviews or on platforms like LinkedIn–it shows you’re not just sitting around at home.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Amazon driver breaks down the A.I. system watching them for safety violations like drinking coffee while driving and counting the times they buckle their seat belt, by Orianna Rosa Royle

Elon Musk defends ‘Dilbert’ cartoon after cancellation, labeling media and elite schools ‘racist against whites and Asians,’ by Chloe Taylor

American workers have bigger hands, and other lessons Panasonic learned in Tesla’s gigafactory, by Steve Mollman

Some companies are already replacing workers with ChatGPT, despite warnings it shouldn’t be relied on for ‘anything important,’ by Trey Williams

The ‘Cryptoqueen’ who made FBI’s most wanted after $4 billion heist was rumored killed—but evidence leaves more questions than answers, by Ben Weiss

‘You are irrelevant and doomed’: Microsoft chatbot Sydney rattled users months before ChatGPT-powered Bing showed its dark side, by Steve Mollman

A laid-off TikTok employee went viral on the platform after she documented her last day in the office—and gave viewers a peek inside, by Chris Morris

BEFORE YOU GO

It’s Pokémon Day. On Feb. 27, 1996, the first Pokémon games were released in Japan. The megafranchise may not be associated with a Game Boy anymore, but it’s still hugely popular. Last year, Pokémon Scarlet & Violet was released for the Nintendo Switch. And on Monday, Pokémon Presents announced that smartphone users will get a taste of the game through an integration with mobile game Pokémon Go, which became popular in 2016 for its superimposed maps of the real world.