The HMD Fusion is a technological chameleon. You can use Smart Outfits to dress it up as a video game console, barcode scanner, or a rugged IP68-rated device. Or, you can keep it casual, just a high-performing, quality, repairable smartphone. The best part is that if you can’t find the Smart Outfit you want, you can make your own.
What makes the HMD Fusion (including the Barça and X1 variants) special is its passion-driven design. HMD told us, “Mass customization and enabling users to easily adapt their phone to their specific needs/desires has been a goal for our design team for many years.” This smartphone is a platform that celebrates user creativity and adaptability.
Building on the innovation in repairability unveiled in the HMD Skyline, the HMD Fusion retains Gen2 repairability but goes a step further in embracing modular design. You might remember some modular cell phone projects that fizzled out, but HMD Fusion offers real live DIY-designed modularity at a price point that’s pretty accessible to most people. Anyone can make a Smart Outfit for an HMD Fusion device with HMD’s free and open development toolkit. And, with a starting price for the HMD Fusion of $299, buying (or making) a Smart Outfit or two still keeps the phone within reach for many budgets.
The HMD community has floated some amazing ideas for Smart Outfits: an integrated earbuds case, a pico projector, a fold-out solar panel array, even a rear e-ink display. Since HMD has made the precise device dimensions, smart pin specs, and API easily accessible (they even provide sample 3D files and code), anyone with access to a 3D printer and some coding skills can develop a new outfit.
One key design feature that enables this modularity is the six-pin connector that’s exposed on the back of the base “techblock.” This pogo pin connector uses spring contacts on the inside of the back cover to contact the motherboard, thereby avoiding an extra cable to disconnect during disassembly.
Meanwhile, Coppernic, a French mobile solutions company, has already announced two Smart Outfits for the HMD Fusion: a barcode scanner and a mobile access control reader. These may not be groundbreaking innovations by themselves, but the HMD Fusion lets you use the same core for both applications, plus whatever HMD, Coppernic, or you come up with next.
For businesses, this means only having one piece of hardware to maintain and keep in service. One central fleet of devices could eventually power a wide range of functions that previously required a different device for each task. And, if the outfit a business needs isn’t available, they can make their own.
For consumers, the HMD Fusion offers similar benefits. You can dress your HMD Fusion up in the forthcoming Rugged Outfit for a day of outdoor adventure, then swap it for the Gaming Outfit to unwind after. Snap on the Flashy Outfit for better pictures with light controls integrated into the camera app, then get rid of the extra bulk by putting the simple Casual Outfit back on. You pick the level of tech you need, when you need it. It’s always better for the planet to only buy what you need, and the HMD Fusion helps you do that.
The device’s innovative design goes beyond just swappable outfits. Unlike other phones that rely on adhesive, the HMD Fusion uses a thoughtful approach to protection. The techblock employs gaskets and screws to create IP54 water- and dust-resistance, with the option of an IP68-rated Rugged Outfit (forthcoming) for maximum protection. (As far as we know, this is the first time a mainstream modular and repairable smartphone has achieved such a rating using only OEM-made equipment.) As HMD explains, the design has a “minimal industrial aesthetic” that “celebrates this very easy to repair approach.”
But this kind of design can be difficult to pull off. “A fully repairable phone doesn’t need to cost more than a standard phone assembly,” HMD told us. “It’s really about priorities and what trade-offs you are willing to make. The real challenge is not to compromise significantly on any parameter—sleek, user repairable, fully protected. It’s difficult to make sleek devices that are very easy to repair yet stay fully protected from ingress after repair.”
Sustainability was a key consideration for the HMD Fusion’s design. As HMD puts it, “Sustainability for phones is really about longevity. We hope consumers choose longevity over the next new phone.”
However, the device only comes with two software updates and three years of security updates, with the Business Edition offering five years of security updates. “Our customers are showing signs that they aren’t necessarily willing to pay a premium for longer updates,” HMD told us, “so we felt that it was more important to keep the devices in great physical condition for as long as they generally use them, allowing for them to swap out the display, batteries and charging ports.”
This means that the phone is likely to outlast its software. However, some Android manufacturers have shown that it doesn’t have to be this way, and we hope HMD will follow suit.
HMD has committed to repairability, so we’re still hoping to see extended software support in future releases—or at least official options for keeping unsupported devices in service, like what the Galaxy Upcycling program wanted to be.
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