A classic retus? Nokia CEO confirms comeback for phones - CNET

Nokia smartphones will be a thing again. Maybe in 2016, but maybe not.

The Finnish company confirmed Sunday at the Mobile World Congress trade show in Barcelona that it's pressing ahead with plans to sell smartphones. It just doesn't know when.

"There's no timeline, there's no rush," said Nokia Chief Executive Rajeev Suri at a press event. "It could happen in 2016, it could happen later."

The company, whose phones were once a favorite with consumers, sold its devices business to Microsoft in 2014 for $7.2 billion. It has since regained the rights to sell smartphones under the Nokia brand. We've only seen the company release one lonely Android tablet over the past year. In July, Nokia hinted it would re-enter the phone market in 2016, but then it went quiet, until now.

Suri made it clear that Nokia wants to wait for the right partner rather than rush back into the market. As he has previously said, the company will not make the phones but will license the Nokia brand to a manufacturer.