The collaboration between Nokia and ZEISS is arguably the most durable in the mobile phone industry. Apparently, the collaboration between the two has been quietly ending since 2021.
HMD Global, as the holder of the Nokia mobile phone brand, confirmed that it has terminated its partnership with ZEISS which is focused on providing camera hardware for Nokia mobile phones.
In an official statement shared with Nokiamob, ZEISS said this partnership would end in 2021. But neither ZEISS nor HMD Global gave a reason why this collaboration was terminated.
"After a long and successful collaboration, in 2021 ZEISS and HMD Global have agreed not to extend a non-exclusive partnership that includes collaboration for "Nokia" branded smartphone imaging technology with ZEISS as a consulting and development partner," Zeiss said in a statement. as quoted from Nokiamob, Tuesday (26/7/2022).
Given that this partnership ends in 2021, it means that the last Nokia phone to carry ZEISS hardware and branding is the Nokia XR20. It is not yet known whether HMD Global will seek other partners to develop camera technology in Nokia phones.
The collaboration between Nokia and ZEISS actually started almost two decades ago when Nokia was still in its prime. The first Nokia phone to feature Zeiss camera technology was the Nokia N90, which was launched in 2005.
When his condition faltered, Nokia then sold its mobile phone business to Microsoft, and then licensed the Nokia brand to HMD Global. Nokia phones with ZEISS cameras then returned after HMD Global partnered with ZEISS in 2017.
At that time, the cooperation agreement between the two companies was not only limited to optical hardware. ZEISS is also collaborating with HMD Global to develop new sensors and algorithms.
After no longer working with HMD Global, ZEISS still has a partnership with Vivo. The partnership, which began in 2020, has spawned three generations of Vivo X phones, including the recently released Vivo X80 series.