Can't use WeChat and WiFi, would people still rush to buy a hundred yuan phone? 25 years later, Nokia released a replica of the classic model 3210, which has been restocked four times since May and sold out quickly each time.

Nokia 3210 is a model launched in 1999, with a total sales volume of 160 million. At the beginning of its listing, its price exceeded 3,000 yuan, which was about the same as the price per square meter in Beijing at that time. The replica model is priced at 379 yuan and has sold more than 3,000 units in Nokia's Tmall and JD flagship stores.

When vintage phones from the last century are resold: multiple restocks, distributor channels markups of 30%.

At 10 a.m. today, Nokia 3210 4G was restocked for the fourth time. According to official sources, a small amount of stock was sold this time and was quickly sold out again. On August 8, Nokia officially released its latest replica model, Nokia 3210 4G, which was sold out in all warehouses within two days. The support from consumers came as a surprise to Nokia, with the official blog declaring "so excited" and subsequently announcing restocks.

However, during the flagship store restocking period, the Nokia 3210 4G on various distributor stores and second-hand circulation platforms ranged from 70 to several hundred yuan above the standard price. According to Blue Whale reporters, the stores that are able to immediately ship this product are mostly selling it for more than 500 to 600 yuan.

What kind of product is it that has consumers chasing after it like this?

The vintage phone resold after 25 years must be leveraging on nostalgia. Nokia clearly states in the promotional material "returning to 1999", "millennium return", "memories of Y2K" and other expressions. Because Nokia 3210 mobile phone has only 2 million pixels, the photos taken are full of retro feeling, so there are many netizens on social platforms who regard Nokia phones as a replacement for CCD cameras.

Although Nokia listed "12 reasons to choose Nokia 3210 4G", such as built-in Himalayas, Migu music, and support for mobile payments, this phone does not support WeChat and WiFi, and scanning the QR code requires using a smart phone for binding during the first use (supports setting daily consumption limits).

Compared to that, this replica's functions are even worse than Little Genius watches. Nokia seems to fully recognize this point, so it positions the 3210 4G model towards students and backup device users. For parents of students and people who deliberately simplify phone functions, this refurbished phone is "simple" just right.

But besides these two groups of people, some people who ordered based on nostalgia regretted it. Blue Whale reporters noticed that on second-hand platforms, the reasons for sellers selling 3210 4G mostly reflect "impulsive ordering", "not fun", "not used to it", and so on.

Now relying on patents to make easy money, Nokia phones may bid farewell to the era.

In fact, this is not the first time Nokia has replicated classic models. As a former king who has been the best-selling mobile phone for more than a decade, Nokia indeed has the qualifications for nostalgia. Starting in 2017, Nokia has released no less than 10 replica models, including but not limited to flip-up 2660, and Bluetooth-enabled 5710. But objectively speaking, the functions of these mobile phones are very limited, and it is difficult to take on the role of an independent backup device. Judging from the market feedback, they are more like a stimulant that Nokia occasionally injects into the mobile phone business.

Taking the launch of this replica machine as an example, data from Chanma Mama shows that Nokia's cumulative sales in the past three months in the official flagship store of Douyin was only 1-2.5 million yuan, with sales peaks occurring at 220 4G listing, 3210 4G launch, and restocking periods, with single sales amounting to around 100-500 thousand yuan.

What consumers love is the Qin Xiang, which the current Nokia is not.

‍‍‍‍In 2014, Nokia sold its equipment and services business to Microsoft and then withdrew from the intense competition of smartphone manufacturing. Two years later, several former Nokia managers bought back the mobile phone business from Microsoft and established a company called "HMD" in Finland, which is currently the Nokia that sells phones in the public eye.

HMD has followed the trend and released several smartphones, but the market reaction has not been ideal. After the poor sales of Nokia 9 PureView, HMD has not launched any flagship models, and has gradually abandoned the mid-to-high-end market, instead going all out for nostalgia.

At present, Nokia's Tmall flagship store only has one smartphone C31 on sale, priced at 579 yuan for promotional events. There are no products priced over a thousand yuan in the store, and they are mostly 2G and 4G feature phones. The best-selling is the 105 elderly phone for just 149 yuan, which has already sold more than 50,000 units.

However, Nokia and HMD's exclusive license will expire in 2026. The latter seems unwilling to play the emotional card for a long time. According to IT Home, HMD released a new product teaser video at the beginning of this year, suggesting that it will abandon the Nokia brand and instead use its own brand to launch future smartphones. Earlier, it changed the X platform account name from @nokiamobile to @HMDglobal, and Nokia phones may gradually become history.

Nokia, which has stripped its mobile business, has set its sights on the communications business. After completing a series of acquisitions, Nokia has become one of the top communication giants in the world.

It is worth noting that Nokia has about 20,000 patent families (each family can include several individual patents), covering multiple technologies from 2G to 5G, involving high-pixel large bottom, oversampling technology, optical image stabilization and other essential technologies for smartphones. The Global 5G Patent Activity Report (2022) released by China Institute of Information and Communications shows that Nokia's patent family accounts for 7.6%, and the total cost of 5G patents for the whole device is 40 euros, equivalent to RMB 271, which means that Nokia charges 271 yuan for each 5G smartphone made.

This advantage is clearly reflected in the financial report. Currently, Nokia has four business groups: network infrastructure, mobile network, cloud and network services, Nokia technology, etc. In the full year of 2023, Nokia's operating profit was 1.688 billion euros, a year-on-year decrease of 27%. The operating profit of the technical business group (responsible for managing patent portfolios and monetizing intellectual property) was 734 million euros (approximately RMB 5.72 billion), accounting for 43.4% of the total operating profit, and the operating margin of this business was as high as 67.7%.

For many years, Nokia has triggered a "patent war" worldwide, sued many mobile phone manufacturers and won compensation. OPPO, Vivo, Apple, and other companies have also been involved. Nowadays, the early king who withdrew from the intelligent machine battle still earns a lot of money in the era of smartphones with his patent technology, which is inevitably both nostalgic and miraculous.