In a positive step, Nokia Mobile has decided to offer an extended warranty to users suffering from USB port issues on their Nokia smartphones. Owners of Nokia 6.1 Plus, Nokia 5.1 Plus, Nokia 7.1, and Nokia 8.1 can now claim a free one-time repair even if the official warranty has lapsed. Nokia offers a 6-months extended warranty wherein Nokia Mobile will repair charging issues for free.
Update: It is also brought to India.
Official communication sent to Nokia Care channels
HMD, as goodwill to consumers, offers a one-time, free-of-cost repair of select Nokia devices identified to have charging section issues.
The free-of-cost repair is applicable to the following sales models only. A device whose 12-months warranty has recently ended is eligible for the free-of-cost repair, up to a maximum of 6 months after the warranty has lapsed.
- Nokia 5.1 Plus
- Nokia 6.1 Plus
- Nokia 7.1
- Nokia 8.1
A user shared this information at the Nokia Community.
Several Nokia users were under quite a disappointment as the USB ports on some Nokia phones stopped working with regular usage. The phones would only charge when the USB cable was aligned in certain angles. Eventually, the devices completely stopped charging. One can find user complaints across the internet, including the official Nokia phones community, Reddit, Facebook, and Nokia centric blogs.
It was likely a design flaw with the USB-C sub-board on these models. The Nokia 8.1 is the least affected while the Nokia 6.1 Plus is the most affected. Nokia Mobile acted on the problem and fixed the flaw in their newer models (launched in 2019). Now, they have finally acknowledged (even though not publicly) that the issue did exist. It is nice to see them offering some assurance to users of their older models who might face the problem in the coming months.
If you own a Nokia 6.1 Plus, Nokia 7.1, 5.1 Plus or a Nokia 8.1 and you are facing issues charging your device, then you can head over to a Nokia Care point and have your device repaired free-of-cost. There will be no charges even if your warranty has expired, given that it expired within the last 6 months (180 days). In short, you get 1.5 years (18 months) of warranty if the issue is related to the charging sub-board.