Critique on HMD’s Marketing Strategy for HMD Pulse

Update: HMD’s CMO, Lars Silberbauer, reacted promptly, and the company has rectified the error. Lars explained that there was no intention to portray devices differently. The renders have now been corrected for those that resembled real devices. However, I find it strange that errors like these where the wrong render is placed on the official website can happen. But, HMD is Human Mobile Devices, and humans tend to make mistakes. Kudos to Lars and the team for a quick reaction.
The marketing campaign for HMD’s new strategy suggested that the future of HMD phones might be colourful and that some core Fabula design principles could be employed in designing their brand’s phones. However, when the first renders appeared, while the colours matched the promise, the body design was more squarish, reminiscent of previous Nokia devices made by HMD.

Our reader, along with Suomimobiili, noted that the initial render of the HMD Pulse featured significantly thinner bezels around the display, making the design quite appealing and the Pulse seemed promising. The only device retaining a chin was the HMD Pulse Pro, the most spec ‘d-up HMD phone.

However, these were merely renders, often used to convey an idea, and after the announcement of the HMD Pulse, it became apparent that these initial renders did not accurately represent reality. Despite this, HMD still used them on their website, which is not an ideal practice.

We live in a world where everything is marketed, and reality is often distorted. However, HMD, striving to be an honest, European brand, built on the inherited values and traditions of Nokia, should understand the importance of presenting phones as they truly are.

We hope that such practices will not recur. It is preferable that the actual device resembles the render, not the other way around.