The next smartphone to come from mobile icon Nokia is a handset that users can repair themselves.
The Nokia G22, developed by Finnish manufacturer HMD Global, is a standard smartphone with a 6.5-inch screen and a 50-megapixel main camera.
But it’s the phone’s outer shell and insides that make it special. The handset includes a recyclable plastic back which can be easily removed to swap out broken components.
Armed with tools and repair guides from hardware repair advocacy firm iFixit, a user can remove and replace the phone’s back cover, battery, screen and charging port.
Adam Ferguson, head of product marketing at HMD Global, said that this process would cost on average 30% less than replacing an old phone with a new one.
Smartphone companies are increasingly working to make phones last for longer amid pressure from regulators to make electronics devices more sustainable.
Lawmakers in the European Parliament, for example, are calling for legislation that would force manufacturers to give users the “right to repair.”
Right to repair refers to a movement among consumer rights campaigners to make it easier for consumers to repair their gadgets.
The European Commission’s Green New Deal seeks to make the bloc a so-called circular economy by 2050, making it so that almost all physical goods can be repurposed, repaired, reused or recycled to minimize waste.
Repairing phones, in particular, has gotten more complex due to how tightly the battery and other components are sealed by glue.
Apple, which had long been reluctant to changes its repair policies, decided in November 2021 to launch a self-service repair program that lets customers buy parts to fix their own devices.
In December, the iPhone maker expanded this program to eight European countries, including Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain, Sweden, and the U.K.
“As consumers increasingly demand more sustainable and longer-lasting devices, the ability to repair smartphones easily and affordably will become a key differentiator in the market,” said Ben Wood, lead analyst at CCS Insight.
Around half of mobile phone owners in Europe would have their device repaired if it broke outside their warrant period, Wood said, citing CSS Insight’s research.
There is one drawback with the Nokia G22 — it only meets the IP52 benchmark on resistance against damaging substances, meaning it is not immune to water damage.
Ferguson said it couldn’t achieve this feature at the phone’s price point.
The G22, which will be released in the U.K. on Mar. 8, starts at a price of £149.99 ($179.19). Replaceable parts can be bought individually from iFixit. For the battery, it’ll cost £22.99; for the display, £44.99, and for the charging port, £18.99.
Ferguson said that, on average, consumers would pay 30% less replacing their broken parts than buying a new phone.
Nokia isn’t the only mobile brand developing climate-conscious smartphones. Dutch firm Fairphone, for example, sells a range of phones that use repairable and replaceable parts.
Once a titan in the handset industry, Nokia has since taken a backseat as electronics giants Samsung and Apple rose to the top of the rankings. The firm is now known mostly for telecoms infrastructure sold to carriers.
Nokia sold its mobile business to Microsoft for 5.4 billion euros ($5.8 billion) in 2014. The unit was later bought by HMD, which was formed by Nokia executives in Finland, for $350 million. Nokia pockets a royalty fee on each phone HMD sells.
HMD said it’s also planning to source more manufacturing of its phones in Europe. The company didn’t specify where, citing security reasons. In a press release, the firm said it was “developing capabilities and processes to bring 5G Nokia device production to Europe in 2023.”
The move highlights an ongoing movement from large tech companies of their supply chains away from China and other East Asian countries.
Klarna is synonymous with the “buy now, pay later” trend of making a purchase and deferring payment until the end of the month or paying over interest-free monthly installments.
Nikolas Kokovlis | Nurphoto | Getty Images
Swedish fintech Klarna — primarily known for its popular “buy now, pay later” services — is launching its own Visa debit card, as it looks to diversify its business beyond short-term credit products.
The company on Tuesday announced that it’s piloting the product, dubbed Klarna Card, with some customers in the U.S. ahead of a planned countrywide rollout. Klarna Card will launch in Europe later this year, the firm added.
The move highlights an ongoing effort from Klarna ahead of a highly anticipated initial public offering to shift its image away from the poster child of the buy now, pay later (BNPL) trend and be viewed as more of an all-encompassing banking player. BNPL products are interest-free loans that allow people to pay off the full price of an item over a series of monthly installments.
“We want Americans to start to associate us with not only buy now, pay later, but [with] the PayPal wallet type of experience that we have, and also the neobank offering that we offer,” Klarna CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski told CNBC’s “The Exchange” last month. “We are basically a neobank to a large degree, but people associate us still strongly with buy now, pay later.”
Klarna’s newly announced card comes with an account that can hold Federal Insurance Deposit Corporation (FDIC)-insured deposits and facilitate withdrawals — similar to checking accounts offered by mainstream banks.
Notably, Klarna Card is powered by Visa Flexible Credential, a service from the American card network that lets users access multiple funding sources — like debit, credit and BNPL — from a single payment card. It’s a debit card by default, but users can also toggle to one of Klarna’s “pay later” products, including “Pay in 4” and “Pay in 30 Days.”
Klarna is pushing deeper into a fiercely competitive consumer banking market. The U.S. banking industry is dominated by heavyweights such as JPMorgan Chase & Co and Bank of America, while fintech challengers like Chime have also attracted millions of customers.
While Klarna has a full banking license in the European Union, it does not have its own U.S. bank license. However, the firm says it’s able to offer FDIC-insured accounts through a partnership with WebBank, a small financial institution based in Salt Lake City, Utah.
SXSW had branding all around the neighbourhood of Shoreditch in London.
Arjun Kharpal | CNBC
South by Southwest (SXSW) may be a well-known event in the United States, but it certainly hasn’t reached the same level of recognition in Britain.
“What’s that?” asked a pedestrian who was passing by a SXSW London sign.
SXSW is a festival held in Austin, Texas, every year that brings together big names in music, film, art and technology. The organizers have brought the event to London for the first time this week, and CNBC took at look at what’s going on.
CNBC’s Tania Bryer moderated a discussion with London Mayor Sadiq Khan who during an opening speech made the pitch for the city as a “hub for talent, trade, tech and innovation.”
Mayor of London Sadiq Khan speaks with moderator Tania Bryer during the “Opening Remarks – Welcome to SXSW London” panel discussion on the first day of SXSW London 2025 at The Truman Brewery on June 2, 2025.
Jack Taylor | Getty Images Entertainment | Getty Images
Khan took veiled swipes at the U.S. President Donald Trump and his trade policies and pitched London as open for business.
“So at the time when there’s so much uncertainty and political turmoil across the pond, defined by an inward looking mentality, I’m going to reach out to international investors, businesses and creators to say that London offers you the opposite,” Khan said, according to Deadline.
SXSW is being held in various venues across the creative neighborhood of Shoreditch which is also close to Old Street, a key tech hub in the early days of London’s startup scene. Shoreditch was taken over by SXSW London branding, from murals to signs on lampposts.
SXSW had murals all over Shoreditch, London, which advertised the event.
Arjun Kharpal | CNBC
Big names are in attendance, such as “Game of Thrones” star Sophie Turner and actor and musician Idris Elba. On the tech front, Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis spoke, as did Thomas Wolf, co-founder of artificial intelligence firm Hugging Face.
$24 socks and free chocolate
So what was the experience like? The day started with me picking up my press pass and receiving an SXSW tote bag. There was a schedule and map in there and bar of SXSW-branded Tony’s Chocolonely.
I made my way to Shoreditch Electric, a venue I just found out is home to the National Centre for Circus Arts. I watched a session where Thomas Wolf of Hugging Face discussed the progress of open-source artificial intelligence models and the future of robotics. Open source is a big deal in AI right now because of the strong performance of those models, especially out of China, which are free to use.
Shoreditch Electric hosted some talks during SXSW London. The courtyard was a place for attendees to sit in the sun.
Arjun Kharpal | CNBC
The venue was an industrial-style, exposed brick building. Just outside was a coffee bar, which was perfect for the sunny weather in London on Monday.
I then walked over to the Truman Brewery, where the main stage of the conference was. Outside the entrance were lots of food trucks and, of course, big brand displays from sunglasses firm Ray-Ban and electric car company Polestar, which had live music performances throughout the day.
Polestar and Ray-Ban took the chance to advertise their products during SXSW London, 2025.
Arjun Kharpal | CNBC
Then there was the official merchandise store which was selling a pair of SXSW-branded socks for £18 ($24) and a T-shirt for £30.
After a quick security check, I was in the Truman Brewery in time for a session from Hassabis. I decided to try to watch it on stage but the line to get in was long, even about half an hour before the talk. So I decided to watch it on a screen in the media lounge, which had pretty decent sandwiches.
The entrance to the Truman Brewery where the main stage of SXSW London was located.
Arjun Kharpal | CNBC
AI everywhere
AI was certainly a big theme, with companies like Hugging Face, Google DeepMind and even Wayve, a U.K. driverless car startup backed by SoftBank, discussing the future of the technology.
Hassabis spoke about artificial general intelligence (AGI), which is generally understood as AI that is smarter than humans. He said AGI would be “bigger” than the Industrial Revolution and the internet in terms of its impact on society. He also warned about the need to develop this technology responsibly.
The DeepMind founder also said that over the next five to 10 years, AI tools are going to “supercharge technically savvy people who are at the forefront of using these technologies, but combining it with creativity and other skills.”
“I think they’re going to be able to achieve superhuman things,” Hassabis said.
There was a long queue of attendees waiting to get into the next session where Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis was about to speak at SXSW London, 2025.
Arjun Kharpal | CNBC
There are lots of big names performing throughout the week, including R&B star Tems — but they’re far too late in the evening and don’t sync up with my 5 a.m. wake-up call. So you’ll have to look on social media to see what kind of vibe those events have.
Uber said Monday that Pierre-Dimitri Gore-Coty, one of the company’s longest-tenured top executives and the head of is delivery business is leaving after almost 13 years.
Gore-Coty joined Uber as a general manager in France in 2012, and worked his way up to become vice president of mobility for the Europe and Middle East region four years later, according to his LinkedIn profile. He was named senior vice president of delivery in 2021.
“It’s hard to imagine Uber without Pierre, because there hasn’t been much Uber without Pierre,” CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said in a statement that was part of a regulatory filing. “As one of our first employees, he was a driving force behind our global Mobility expansion and stepped up to run Uber Eats just weeks before the first Covid lockdowns.”
The company didn’t say what Gore-Coty plans to do next.
Uber also said that Andrew Macdonald, the company’s senior vice president of mobility and business operations, will become chief operating officer, reporting to Khosrowshahi. Macdonald, 41, will oversee the company’s global mobility, delivery and autonomous businesses in addition to “key cross-platform functions like membership, customer support, safety, and more,” the filing said.
Gore-Coty is one of 11 people listed on Uber’s executive team page. Macdonald is the only one who has worked at the company longer. He joined in May 2012, four months before Gore-Coty, according to LinkedIn.
“These last nearly 13 years have been the ride of a lifetime,” Gore-Coty said in the statement. “It was a true team effort, and I’m so proud of what we’ve built and the impact we’ve had on daily life in cities around the world.”
Uber shares were little changed in extended trading after closing on Monday at $83.64. The stock is up 39% this year, while the Nasdaq is about flat.
Last month, the company reported first-quarter results that beat on earnings but missed on revenue. A month earlier, the Federal Trade Commission sued Uber, alleging that the company engaged in “deceptive billing and cancellation practices” related to its Uber One subscription service.
In an interview with CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” Khosrowshahi characterized the lawsuit as “a bit of a head-scratcher for us.”