HMD Skyline is the latest mid-range smartphone that you can repair on your own

It’s been a while since HMD, Nokia’s parent company, began to manufacture and sell smartphones with its branding instead of the latter. And rather than bank on Nokia’s legacy of making ‘unbreakable’ phones (remember the Nokia 3310?), HMD now produces phones with a spotlight on repairability. Recently it unveiled its latest device, which along with repairability also focuses on content creators. Here’s everything you need to know about the HMD Skyline.

HMD Skyline: Key features and specifications

The HMD Skyline is powered by the Snapdragon 7s Gen 2 chipset and gets 12GB RAM with 256GB of storage. Storage on the device is also expandable up to 512GB, via a microSD card slot.

The battery on the phone is a 4,600mAh (replaceable) unit, which HMD claims can last up to 48 hours depending on the usage. On offer is 33W wired charging support, 15W wireless charging, and even 5W reverse wireless charging support, allowing you to charge other accessories such as your TWS earbuds via the phone.

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Speaking of the replaceable battery, the phone is also easy to repair. Components such as new screens and batteries, as well as the necessary tools along with tutorials, are all available on HMD’s online store. This is great if you’re looking to save a little money. Not to mention, kinder to the environment as well, since you may not need to change your phone as frequently.

A quick look at the HMD Skyline will immediately remind you of Nokia’s Lumia series of smartphones – one of the first (and very few) pushes at pitching Windows phones as a viable alternative to Android phones and iPhones in India.

The phone gets a side-mounted fingerprint sensor integrated into the power button, and two volume rockers on one side. On the other side is a button that HMD calls the ‘Custom button’. This like the Action Button seen on the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max, as well as the iPhone 16 series, can be programmed to do anything from launching a game to summoning your preferred AI assistant, and more.

The display on the device is a 6.55-inch pOLED unit with a Full HD+ resolution, 1,000 nits of peak brightness, and unlike several other competitors, a 144Hz refresh rate. For audio, there is a dual-microphone and dual-speaker setup on the device, with support for Qualcomm aptX Adaptive audio technology for low latency audio.

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Coming to the cameras on the device, the HMD Skyline gets a 108MP primary sensor with support for OIS, a 13MP ultrawide sensor, and a 50MP telephoto sensor. Alongside 4K video, it also gets support for spatial audio capture with wind-noise cancellation, features amateur filmmakers and vloggers will appreciate. On the front is a high-resolution 50MP camera with eye-tracking technology, which is again extremely useful for vloggers.

Connectivity options on the HMD Skyline include Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.2, GPS, Galileo, and Glonass, as well as NFC. What’s more, unlike the HMD Crest and Crest Max, the Skyline, which comes running on Android 14 straight out of the box, also gets two years of software updates and three years of security patch updates.

HMD Skyline: Pricing and availability

The HMD Skyline is available in Twisted Black and Neon Pink colourways. Globally, the phone is also available in an attractive Blue Topaz colour. However, the same is not available in India. Not yet, at least. It is priced at Rs 35,999 for the single 12GB RAM variant. There are a few other options you can consider in the price range, which include the OnePlus Nord 4 5G, and the Samsung Galaxy A35 5G.

Should the HMD Skyline have taken your fancy however, it can be purchased from HMD’s websites as well as from all other HMD authorised resellers across the country.