A device aimed at keeping teens safe and two more for football fans—these are the latest offerings from phone maker HMD.
The Finnish manufacturer, famous for making Nokia phones, revealed the details on the opening day of the MWC tech show in Barcelona.
HMD unveiled its first smartphone specifically designed to protect teens. Parents can control the Fusion X1 with a monthly Xplora subscription. They can manage internet and social media access, and even activate “school mode.”
The Xplora service also tracks location every 20 seconds. It includes safe zones, emergency SOS calling, low battery alerts, and remote device access.
“It can’t be deleted out of the device. It doesn’t matter what the kid does, it’s still there. And then it gives parents much deeper layers of control,” explains James Robinson, vice president of family business at HMD.
Two more products from the Finnish company are phones for football fans, or more accurately, fans of one club—Barcelona.
The company is best known for making Nokia phones. And now, it’s bringing back a classic—the Nokia 3210. But this time, it’s in Barcelona Football Club colors. This update includes hidden messages from players, custom wallpapers, and, of course, the mobile game Snake. But now, the game is played on a football pitch.
The device HMD Barça Fusion is a collector’s edition smartphone with signatures from 11 star players. HMD also promises hidden surprises for fans. And you can even wake up to the voice of your favorite player.
“It’s loaded with special content from all the first team players. It also has a detox mode. So you can focus on playing football and not being on a smartphone,” explains Lars Silberbauer, CMO of HMD.
MWC 2025 opened on March 3 and ran until March 6. The tech show began as a showcase for the mobile phone industry but has expanded to cover a range of technology, from established global giants to innovative start-ups.
This article and video were provided by The Associated Press.
[Presentation of HMD’s new Fusion X1 with parental control]
[Actor Drew Barrymore arriving on stage]
Drew Barrymore (interview): “I was truly let out into the wild. With too much access and too much excess. And I think everybody knows how that went for me. It was messy. It didn’t go well. And I really crashed and burned. Because what we need in the world when we’re born into it is someone out there looking out for us to keep us safe.”
[Barrymore on stage]
[HMD executive taking a selfie with Fusion X1]
James Robinson (interview): “About half of the people that responded to our survey had said that they’d been approached by a stranger online. We also saw that 37 per cent of them had been tried to move to an encrypted chat. These dangers are very much increasing. And I think a lot of people are unaware of just how prevalent this behavior is. So, launching a product like the Fusion X1 is the first step in how we help parents to address this sort of problems. And the really important part that we’ve done working with our partner Xplora is to deeply integrate the experience into the operating systems. So it can’t be deleted out of the device. It doesn’t matter what the kid does, it’s still there. And then it gives parents much deeper layers of control.”
[Attendees trying the new Fusion X1 model]
[HMD staff pairing two Fusion X1s for the child and the parent]
[Presentation of new HMD FC Barcelona smartphones]
[HMD CMO Lars Silberbauer during the presentation]
Lars Silberbauer (interview): “We have two Barça phones. We have the Barça Fusion and we have the Barça 3210. One is a feature phone that really like is something that you really if you’re in the stands watching the games, if you’re doing training. It’s very, very, very endurant, so you can definitely bring it everywhere. And this (Fusion) is a very special phone because it has all the signatures from the players, and has a very special feature. If you bring a UV light like this one, you can see all the signatures from all the team’s players. Lamine Yamal, (Robert) Lewandowski, Dani Olmo, and so on, so on. That’s part of the real phone. And it’s loaded with special content from all of the first team players. It also has a detox mode so you can actually focus on playing football and not being on a smartphone.”
[HMD staff showing Barça players’ signatures on the back of the Barça Fusion model]
[Barça 3210 model on display]
This script was provided by The Associated Press.