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Nokia and HMD Global's Juho Sarvikas announces departure after 15 years

Juho has been at Nokia during its most turbulent times.

What you need to know

  • Juho Sarvikas, former CPO of HMD Global, has announced his departure from the company.
  • Sarvikas spent 15 years at Nokia, helping push Symbian phones, transitioning to Windows Phone, and helping with Nokia's resurgence to the smartphone industry.
  • His departure will come at the end of April, after which his plans are unknown.

Nokia has been through a lot these past 15 years. From its rapid decline from the top to its transition to an exclusive Microsoft partner, only for the mobile business to get swallowed up and quickly dismantled into nothing. Now, as the company continues to build itself back up as a major Android OEM, Nokia is losing one of its most esteemed employees. Juho Sarvikas, the Chief Product Officer and Vice President of North America at HMD Global, has just announced his departure from the company via Twitter:

Juho was a major part of Nokia's business for the past 15 years, starting as a product manager behind the Nokia E61. He eventually helped launch Symbian phones like the Nokia Nuron in North America and led the U.S. launch of Lumia Windows Phone devices with the Nokia Lumia 710. He then went onto Microsoft for a brief period after Nokia's mobile division was acquired, before eventually ending up back at Nokia via HMD Global.

As the Chief Product Officer at HMD Global, he helped reintroduce Nokia to the smartphone industry and is often seen at device launches. Nokia now makes some of the best cheap Android phones on the market, like the Nokia 5.4, thanks to great design and clean software. His departure comes as the company focuses its efforts on reemerging as a top Android OEM. Sarvikas has not stated what he plans to do after he leaves the company next month.

This is the second major executive departure from an Android OEM within the past week, with Kyle Kiang leaving OnePlus this week amid the OnePlus 9 going on sale.


by Derrek Lee