Nokia 5.3 Affected By Android 12 Update

Since the beginning of November, HMD has released the update to Android 12 for the Nokia 5.3. But some users have significant problems with the update, and some report “bricked” devices that are no longer usable. HMD now has a solution.

Shortly after the Android 12 update was released for the Nokia 5.3 series, there were indications of a bug. Users reported that they were sometimes unable to carry out the update at all, or – in the worst case – the smartphones are no longer usable – the Nokia is “bricked” (it becomes a “brick”, in German brick).

This happened when the device was reset to factory settings after a successful update. Alone, users could not restart the Nokia, the screen stayed off.

While those affected exchanged information about the problem online, HMD support was not yet prepared for it. A reader of the tech magazine came forward and reported that Nokia was limited in its willingness to help and wanted money to repair the damage it caused itself.

Research Snipers had asked HMD and received the following answer: “They are aware of the “challenges for a small number of our Nokia 5.3 phones after a recent software update,” it said. The company is also “working intensively on a solution to solve this problem immediately”.

Few devices affected

The company has already stopped the distribution of the update and is working on a corrected version to restart the update again. The error can appear when the device is factory reset after the update. As far as we can tell at the moment, it is due to the configuration in the software update. HMD told Research Snipers that this is an “unexpected challenge” and affects “only a small number of devices that have implemented the factory upgrade response”.

However, the error cannot be corrected with another OTA software update, i.e. “Over the Air”, because the devices cannot be started. Affected users can now contact HMD and send in their devices free of charge to have the update installed. Presumably – this has not yet been explained in detail – users will then get their smartphone back with Android 11. The software team is currently still working on a solution to re-release the update to Android 12.