HMD Global, the company making phones with Nokia, recently had to apologize online for exaggerating slim bezels on its latest HMD Pulse smartphone.
The issue came to light when a Twitter (now known as X) user posted a side-by-side comparison of the HMD Pulse in person and online pictures. The hands-on photo clearly showed how the HMD Pulse has much bigger bezels in person compared to marketing photos online.
The X user called out HMD for “deceiving its potential customers.”
A simple question for you! Why are you deceiving your potential customers?!
First photo; HMD Pulse From your website.
Second photo: unpacking the device, reality!@larssilberbauer pic.twitter.com/JnWhyVfHw1— dOrso🇦🇹🇷🇺 (@dorso10) April 26, 2024
HMD and Nokia’s CMO Lars Silberbauer attempted to defend the matter by claiming that digital photos on a website are different from an image taken from “some kind of camera on a phone in poor lighting”, even though the bottom bezel is very clearly shown to be bigger in the hands-on photo, which doesn’t exactly have poor lighting.
However, Silberbauer later admitted that it was a mistake “with this specific asset in the final render.” He said that he had checked in with his team and there was indeed a discrepancy.
I checked in with the team and you are absolutely right, we have made a mistake with this specific asset in the final render. It will be corrected asap. This is absolutely not with any intention.
— Lars Silberbauer (@larssilberbauer) April 27, 2024
Accidental or On Purpose?
From the looks of it, it seems to be an honest mistake from HMD rather than a deliberate attempt to make its phones look better than they are. This is because the Twitter user who originally pointed out the mismatched bezel sizes also shows that the HMD Pulse Pro, a better variant of the same phone, had accurate bezels on the website.
#1 I mean, you give the impression of a small frame around the device, but in reality, it looks completely different. It has nothing to do with whether it's a screenshot or whether it was photographed. Strangely enough, the frame on the Pulse Pro is more accurate. pic.twitter.com/IUaO4qdUuY
— dOrso🇦🇹🇷🇺 (@dorso10) April 27, 2024