Over the past few years, we have seen Nokia and Xiaomi collaborating on several fronts across different markets. In fact, the proximity between the two companies at one stage gave rise to speculations that Xiaomi was planning to buy Nokia. Of course, that turned out to be just a wild rumor. However, according to a new report, Xiaomi is keen on taking things a notch higher by inking a strategic partnership deal with HMD Global-owned Nokia.
Details are sketchy at present, but a section of the Chinese media is claiming that the strategic partnership could be officially inaugurated later this year.
Possibilities are endless – the deal could encompass technical cooperation, patent licensing, or even a comprehensive multi-level cooperation. Should Xiaomi be able to gain access to Nokia’s vast collection of patents, it would open the gates for the China-based company to strengthen its presence in several key strategic markets including the United States. However, we are not sure in what other ways Nokia could possibly benefit from the partnership.
One possibility is that Nokia might borrow some elements from Xiaomi’s vast smartphone empire to improve its own devices. For example, ever since Nokia made a comeback to the smartphone market by launching multiple handsets, many users and analysts have been complaining that the system UI is far from being satisfactory. So, we wouldn’t be surprised if Nokia strikes a deal to bring Xiaomi’s MIUI (or at least a tweak of some sort) to its forthcoming handsets.
Note that these are mere speculations and we are not claiming to have any knowledge of the specifics of the alleged partnership. But make sure to stay tuned as we dig deeper in search for more information about a possible Xiaomi-Nokia partnership in the foreseeable future.
[Via (Chinese)]