I’ve been using one of the bravest phones of the year. It’s the HMD Fusion, and it has found a way to stand out in the current, congested world of smartphones, allowing HMD to break free of its Nokia brand name ties.

It hasn’t simply gone all-out with a $1,000-plus flagship to capture attention and has arguably gone down an even tougher road to do so. The Fusion is a modular smartphone, and it’s a very brave move on HMD’s part.

Teased at Mobile World Congress 2024 and finally given its debut in September, the HMD Fusion is a take on the often attempted modular phone concept, where a base phone can be added to with different components and upgraded over time based on your requirements. Its modularity means the HMD Fusion is also owner-repairable, from the battery to the screen, which is a great start.

The other side of its modularity comes from Smart Outfits. HMD wasn’t clear about how these would work, but now that I’ve got the phone and its first official Smart Outfit, called the Flashy, it’s easily explainable. Think of Smart Outfits as high-tech cases for the phone, so they’re easy to put on and take off while providing protection and special functionality. Once on the phone, they communicate with it using a set of pogo pins, meaning they should be hardwearing and reliable.

What’s unusual is the Fusion always has to wear an Outfit. In the box is the so-called Casual Outfit, a rather ordinary flexible, transparent case, and without it, the phone looks exceptionally vulnerable with its exposed battery and multiple screws.

The Casual Outfit doesn’t have any special features outside of simply keeping the phone safe. It’s a regular case with a fun name. While many of us choose to use a case on their phone, some don’t, but the HMD Fusion’s Casual Outfit looks to be an essential.

HMD intends to release its own series of official Smart Outfits for the Fusion but has cleverly made all the instructions on how to make them public, with the expectation that enthusiasts and businesses will make their own. I’ve tried out the first official Smart Outfit, the Flashy, which adds a ring light to the Fusion’s camera system.

Built into the surround of the camera module, it can be used with the rear-facing camera or hinged over the top of the phone to face the front for selfies. It doesn’t need charging as it uses the phone’s battery for power, and it’s activated inside the standard camera app, so there are no physical buttons or third-party apps to install. It’s a neat system, and you can adjust the brightness and the color temperature of the light using a simple overlay when taking a photo.

Modular phones always struggled to find a simple solution to connecting accessories — see the LG G5 for evidence — but the Flashy Smart Outfit is easy to use because it’s built into a case, and absolutely everyone will instinctively know how to fit and remove it.

The downside is that it turns the Fusion into a rugged phone as the ring light is encased in a thick, hefty, solid case. It’s not something I’d always want my phone to “wear,” and even if I kept it in my bag, it’s always going to have to replace the Casual Outfit the phone has to have fitted, meaning I’ll always be carrying around at least one case for the Fusion.

The Flashy Smart Outfit is made from recycled TPU and comes in two colors: indigo blue and pink. It has a rectangular LED light, and the Fusion’s 50-megapixel front camera is likely going to be the one that most people will use with it. I tried it out in low light, and you can see the difference it makes in the gallery above, complete with an example of the Fusion’s selfie camera without any extra light and how the camera performs using the screen as a fill light.

Obviously, the first image without any light is unusable, but it shows how dark the environment was when I took the photo. The one with the screen as a fill light isn’t terrible (all things considered), but it’s still grainy and low quality. I used the Flashy’s fill light at 100% brightness as an example, which considerably brightens the scene. There’s a little more detail, but what’s more helpful is that the adjustable color temperature helps bring out natural skin tones. In mid-light, it’s sure to work better too.

Unfortunately, it’s not a cheap accessory at 80 British pounds or around $101, so you’ll have to be sure it’ll be used regularly. A bigger problem is that a basic clip-on ring light for your phone can cost just $10, and when you consider the cheapest version of the HMD Fusion phone itself is 249 pounds and expected to be $299 in the U.S., it changes the type of person who may be looking at the HMD Fusion in the first place. After all, people will buy the phone because of what it’s like and not because of an accessory.

I’ve had my SIM card in the HMD Fusion for a day and can only give my initial impressions rather than provide a full review. It uses a Qualcomm Snapdragon 4 Gen 2 processor with a choice of 4GB, 6GB (this is the version I have tried), 8GB, or 12GB of RAM, depending on the model you buy and where you live.

There’s some lag and dropped frame rates in the animations when opening apps and folders, and it’s not the fastest experience, but the HMD Fusion plays Asphalt Legends: Unite without a problem, and it’s fun and exciting, so it’ll likely be fine for day-to-day use. Android 14 is installed, and HMD will send out two major OS version updates in the future, along with three years of security updates. It comes with a 5,000mAh battery and support for 33W wired charging. Unusually, there’s a 3.5mm headphone jack on the base of the phone.

The 6.56-inch screen is a disappointment with poor viewing angles where it quickly loses brightness, and although it has a 90Hz refresh rate, the software defaults to 60Hz, and even when you switch it to 90Hz adaptive, it’s still not entirely blur-free. The 1612 x 700-pixel resolution and 480 nits typical brightness are representatives of the device’s price, but phones like the Samsung Galaxy A35 and Nothing Phone 2a provide a higher-quality viewing experience.

The HMD Fusion is not an expensive flagship phone, but I don’t think that matters. It’s the basis for a customizable smartphone that could end up solving a problem other phones simply can’t, whether that’s through its repairability or your own ability to design and 3D print a special Smart Outfit. Like other modular phones, it’s an exciting prospect but also a tall order.

If you like the idea of customizing the look of your phone but aren’t worried about expensive add-ons like the Flashy case, then the Fusion has some serious competition from the CMF by Nothing Phone 1, where you can replace the exterior case, add a lanyard, and other small tweaks to the style of the phone. I’ll point at the equally customizable CMF Watch 2 Pro as the ideal companion, and the two can be yours for less than the price of the HMD Fusion alone.

There’s potential in the Smart Outfits system, and HMD has approached it correctly by opening it up to the world immediately. However, it really does need enthusiasts as well as HMD to support it. This is why it’s a brave move for HMD, and if wide support doesn’t quickly arrive, the Fusion risks being forgotten along with the many other modular smartphone experiments we’ve seen over the years.

Editors’ Recommendations