Nokia somewhat broke the chain on its usual response to rumour and speculation late last month, issuing what amounted to a denial there was any deal in the works for its mobile infrastructure assets involving Samsung.

The Finnish vendor is typically stoic in declining to engage in such speculation, but its hand appeared to be forced by the impact the rumour had on its share price. Samsung also reportedly played down the talk.

However, Nokia’s history over the past 20 or so years shows the speculation regarding Samsung may not have been the stuff of dreams, with the Finnish vendor showing several times it is willing to adapt and change when times go rough.

To highlight this, Mobile World Live compiled a list of some of the biggest deals Nokia has struck, along with some of the rumoured moves which did not come to pass.

Microsoft
The background: Surely one of the biggest rumours surrounded the future of Nokia’s Devices and Services business.

Arguably the speculation began in 2010 when ex-Microsoft executive Stephen Elop became Nokia’s first non-Finnish CEO. The vendor was still reeling from the step-change Apple brought to the smartphone market in 2007 and was looking for a way to regain its dominant position in the mobile device sector.

Elop’s answer was to throw Nokia’s weight behind Microsoft’s Windows Phone OS, a move he explained as offering greater potential for differentiation than plumping for Google’s Android and one which built on a previous deal to install the US software giant’s Office suite on what were then Symbian-based devices.

At the time, a leaked internal memo revealed Elop had referred to Nokia as standing on a “burning platform”, later speculated to be a reference to Symbian.

In 2011, Nokia was already facing questions over a potential Devices and Services unit takeover by Microsoft, rumours it inevitably denied despite releasing its first smartphone running the US company’s platform.

What happened? It took another three years, but Elop’s vision of offloading the Nokia units to Microsoft came true in a €5.4 billion deal completed in 2014.

The Nokia businesses became part of Microsoft’s Devices Group, a business in which Elop netted himself an EVP role.

It did not go well for Elop or Microsoft.

Alcatel-Lucent
The buildup: Nokia’s infrastructure units have not escaped the rumour-mill, with then rival Alcatel-Lucent being linked to the vendor in reports published in 2013 and 2014.

The Finnish company had been somewhat engaged with buying out partner Siemens from what had been Nokia Siemens Networks, meaning the speculation regarding Alcatel-Lucent flew largely under the radar rather than creating a media storm like recent Samsung speculation.

Nokia’s move for Siemens was completed in August 2013, with the infrastructure unit rebranded Nokia Solutions and Networks, a move fitting in with the Microsoft devices shift noted above.

The waters are now somewhat muddied regarding a hard and fast denial of interest in Alcatel-Lucent at the time by Nokia, but what is clear is that both were noted to be struggling to compete with the might of Ericsson, with a mooted combination offering the potential to significantly boost market share in the lucrative North American market relative to the Sweden-based heavyweight.

How it went: Nokia officially announced a deal to acquire Alcatel-Lucent in 2015 in a deal which valued the French company at €15.6 billion. In a joint statement, the companies pointed to a future in which the combined business would be “uniquely positioned” in a world requiring seamless connectivity, with “unparalleled innovation capabilities” in the form of Alcatel-Lucent’s Bell Labs and Nokia’s FutureWorks.

The takeover was completed late in 2016 when Nokia acquired outstanding shares in Alcatel-Lucent after several months of operating as a standalone business.

Nokia is still adjusting to the acquisition of its French rival, announcing job cuts at Alcatel-Lucent International in 2020 and recently lining up the sale of a submarine cable unit as its infrastructure unit continues to struggle.

Everyone
The talk: In 2020, Nokia’s perceived struggles in infrastructure led to perhaps one of the most peculiar rumours of all, that it would team up with pretty much anyone.

The only element of a speculative Bloomberg article in a barely pre-Covid 19 (coronavirus) world which was actually certain, ironically, was Nokia’s trademark refusal to engage by commenting.

Ericsson, too, declined to comment, after the news outlet mooted the Swedish vendor as one of the “strategic options” Nokia was considering with the help of a team of advisers.

Bloomberg noted a combination with another leading vendor was unlikely due to competition concerns and job security, prompting it to go deeper by speculating Nokia could seek a tie-up with mobile operators or a big tech player.

There was some method to the apparent madness, with the reports emerging a few weeks after then Nokia CEO Rajeev Suri warned of challenges across the rest of 2020 despite a profit hike in the closing months of 2019.

The feverish speculation even resulted in talk of the US government making a move for Nokia or Ericsson in a bid to give Huawei a run for its money and, crucially, up the nation’s influence in communications infrastructure.

Outcome: Nokia did not merge with Ericsson and the US government did not officially become an equipment vendor by buying the Finnish company.

Whether related to the speculation or not, it marked the beginning of the end for Suri, who announced plans to step down a matter of days after Bloomberg’s article was published.

Nokia stated Suri had discussed his departure with its board before the announcement, with the executive stating he was keen to seek fresh challenges.

Samsung
The goss: The recent reports of Samsung sniffing around a Nokia mobile division had an air of here we go again about it, because the pair were also connected early in the last decade at the height of the Finnish company’s device woes.

At the time, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) explained market rumour and speculation had spurred Samsung’s interest. The South Korean vendor was ascending towards its current smartphone powerhouse status, while Nokia was well and truly in the doldrums and relying on the shift in OS detailed above to kick-start its devices unit.

Despite Samsung’s denial, the same rumour resurfaced a year later, with Bloomberg this time left to issue the South Korean vendor’s official disavowal of the talk.

Reality: Despite being linked with a move for Nokia’s device business twice in as many years, Samsung soldiered on alone, achieving a dominant position in the global smartphone market and almost single handedly upholding the honour of the Android OS in the face of Apple’s iOS-powered iPhone onslaught.

Nokia, as we know, opted to exit the sector through its deal with Microsoft.

Lenovo
Word on the street: In 2012, there was a short-lived series of reports linking Chinese device brand Lenovo with a move for Nokia’s mobile device business.

At the time, Lenovo was on the rise in the phone sector, becoming a serious player in India and its home market, where it reportedly surpassed Nokia and Huawei to become the second-largest manufacturer by shipments.

Real talk: The outcome of this odd connection was unequivocable. The then head of Lenovo’s EMEA unit Gianfranco Lanci told Reuters the speculation “must be a joke”.

Commentators noted at the time Lenovo was in something of a purple patch, so why would it need to buy an established mobile phone brand?

The company completed an acquisition of Motorola Mobility from Google two years later.

HMD Global
The death of Nokia has been greatly exaggerated: And so to the present and concerns HMD Global was set to put the final nail in the coffin of Nokia’s device journey by dropping the name from its range of phones.

The origins of this rumour stem from 2016, when the newly formed HMD Global secured a decade-long licence to use the Nokia brand on its devices.

HMD Global put this to good use by playing to Nokia’s glory days in the feature phone era, releasing reimagined versions of iconic names including the 3310 and generally carving out a niche as a provider of digital detox devices.

But an announcement by HMD Global in 2023 sparked fears this cosy relationship and rose-tinted trip to yesteryear were on the ropes, as the vendor outlined plans to begin marketing devices under its own name.

It has since announced several models without Nokia branding, the most significant of which is the recently launched Barbie model produced in conjunction with games company Mattel.

Phoenix-like: Although HMD Global’s own-brand ambitions sparked speculation regarding the final demise of the Nokia name in mobile phones, the Finnish manufacturer offered assurances the famed name remained a key weapon in its arsenal.

It now looks like the iconic Nokia will sit alongside HMD Global’s own-brand devices and those produced by its white label division, which has also seen a tie-up with beverage maker Heineken.

What happens in 2026 when the original licence expires will, itself, be the subject of rumour and speculation. Based on its usual mantra, expect little in the way of response from Nokia, at least not until a deal is done.