HMD will store data from all Nokia smartphones on Google servers in Finland

HMD will store Nokia smartphone activation and performance data on Google Cloud servers in Finland. The manufacturer says it does this to ensure safety and to comply with the GDPR. It would also lead to faster updates.

HMD starts storing the data from the Nokia 4.2, 3.2 and 2.2 on the Finnish servers. Later, data is also stored there from older models, after they have been upgraded to Android 9. The local storage of the data is done in collaboration with Google Cloud and CGI, a company that specializes in collecting and analyzing data. By 2020, all data from Nokia smartphones must be on the Finnish Google Cloud servers.

HMD talks about the storage of activation and performance data of its smartphones. So it is not about the storage of, for example, photos or other proprietary files that Nokia users store somewhere online. HMD states that storing the data from the Nokia smartphones locally will also result in faster release of improvements to the devices. With this, the manufacturer seems to imply that software updates and upgrades come out faster, but exactly how that works is unclear.

In March, it was revealed that data from European Nokia 7 Plus devices was sent to a server of China Telecom. According to HMD’s explanation at the time, this was an error and activation data for devices sold in Europe is sent to an AWS server in Singapore. So that is now about to change.