Why Nokia Ranked No. 1 in Omdia’s 2026 Mobile Core Portfolio Report

Omdia made the 2026 comparison broader and more AI-focused

The 2026 edition assessed 12 core vendors, including AxyomCore, and retained two principal dimensions: business performance and portfolio. Vendors were also grouped into three tiers.

Omdia updated the category weighting to reflect changing operator priorities, including a greater focus on AI/ML and analytics. That change raises the importance of capabilities that help operators automate network operations, extract insight from network data and move toward more adaptive or autonomous infrastructure.

The report still separates product capability from commercial traction. Huawei ranked first in Omdia’s business-performance dimension, while Nokia, Ericsson, Huawei and ZTE remained in the market-leader group. Nokia’s portfolio result should therefore not be read as a market-share ranking.

How Nokia’s cloud-native strategy supports the result

Nokia’s core proposition is designed to work across private, public and hybrid-cloud environments. Its cloud-native 5G Core and IMS Voice Core offerings are positioned for deployment on the cloud platform that best fits an operator’s security, regulatory and operational requirements.

That flexibility supports several parts of the Omdia assessment:

• Cloud-native maturity: Operators can deploy core functions across different cloud environments rather than being limited to one infrastructure model.
• Automation: Nokia describes full-stack automation as a way to improve efficiency and simplify core operations.
• Core as a Service: Nokia highlights Core SaaS as a route to faster service deployment and time to revenue.
• Resilience and exposure: The company’s core strategy emphasizes resilient architectures, analytics and network-exposure capabilities.
• Operational use cases: Cited examples include 5G Core SaaS, Core SaaS Edge for local roaming breakout, core modernization, resilience projects and mission-critical upgrades for IoT, rail and utilities.

Together, these capabilities explain why Nokia’s ranking is broader than a conventional 5G product comparison. The portfolio is being positioned as an operating platform for communications providers, with deployment flexibility and automation alongside core network functions.

Where the “AI supercycle” fits

Nokia’s broader strategy is built around accelerating growth in AI and cloud, leading AI-native mobile networks and 6G, co-innovating with customers and partners, concentrating capital where it can differentiate and improving sustainable returns.

The mobile-core portfolio is part of that strategy because AI infrastructure requires more connectivity, capacity and intelligent network operations. Nokia reported €2.8 billion in AI-and-cloud order intake in the second quarter of 2026, according to an industry analysis of its results.

That commercial momentum does not prove that AI alone caused the Omdia ranking. It does, however, show why automation, cloud deployment and AI/ML analytics are strategically important to Nokia’s product direction and to the criteria Omdia emphasized in 2026.

Why the China retreat does not cancel the ranking

Nokia’s Omdia portfolio result and its China retrenchment describe different parts of the business. The Omdia ranking evaluates the competitiveness of Nokia’s global core portfolio. The China situation concerns market access, local competition, operating footprint and near-term financial effects.

Reports indicate that Nokia plans to close almost all of its mainland-China sites in stages by the end of 2026, following a decline in business and increased competition from domestic vendors. Nokia’s Hangzhou radio-technology R&D center is expected to close, affecting about 1,600 jobs.

The available reporting supports the conclusion that Nokia is reducing its China footprint because of deteriorating local economics and competitive conditions. It does not independently confirm every detail raised in the original question, including the precise number of employees across Greater China or the exact role of national-security restrictions. Those points should be treated cautiously.

The key implication is strategic: Nokia’s product competitiveness can remain strong even as its ability to compete profitably in a particular national market weakens. A withdrawal from mainland China may reduce local costs and exposure, but it also removes business opportunities and creates transition costs.

The financial cost of the transition

Nokia’s second-quarter 2026 results show why the China move and wider restructuring matter to investors. The company reported a €50 million operating loss, compared with comparable operating profit of €434 million.

Nokia said it now expects approximately €800 million in restructuring and associated charges during 2026, with restructuring-related cash outflows of approximately €700 million to €800 million. Its comparable operating-profit outlook was revised to €2.1 billion–€2.6 billion after the presentation of certain businesses as discontinued operations.

Nokia’s Q2 presentation also reported negative free cash flow of €0.7 billion, so the cash-flow pressure cited in the discussion is supported by the company’s investor materials.

Some market reports said Nokia shares were trading about 4.5% lower after news of the China pullback emerged. That is a reported market reaction, not evidence that investors had reassessed Nokia’s underlying mobile-core technology.

What to watch next

The most useful way to interpret Nokia’s position is as a tension between product capability and commercial execution:

1. Portfolio strength: Omdia’s 2026 assessment places Nokia at the top for portfolio competitiveness for the second consecutive year.
2. AI and cloud alignment: The evaluation increasingly rewards cloud-native, automated and analytics-driven capabilities, which match Nokia’s stated strategy.
3. Market performance: Nokia did not lead Omdia’s separate business-performance dimension; Huawei did.
4. Regional retrenchment: The planned China closures and Hangzhou job cuts show the cost of competing in a market where domestic vendors have gained ground.
5. Cash and restructuring: The €800 million charge outlook and negative Q2 free cash flow make execution and cost discipline central investor questions.

Available listings point to a Nokia Q3 earnings release on October 21, 2026, rather than October 22, but the provided investor-relations material does not independently confirm the date as a formally scheduled event. The next results should help clarify whether restructuring is beginning to improve the cost base and whether Nokia’s AI, cloud and core-network opportunities can offset pressure from China and other weaker markets.