That makes sense, probably the same for most things other than automobiles as well.

This is perhaps more similar to the recent laptop battery recalls. Affected persons were offered replacement batteries. Understandably, this isn't likely to explode and/or catch fire, but recalls on electronics aren't unheard of. I wouldn't necessarily expect Nokia to fix it for free if outside the warranty period, but:

(Provided it is eventually determined to be a flaw)
I'd feel a lot more comfortable if Nokia offered some type of free preventative repair, even if it's just blobing on some epoxy to spread stress out. I could do that myself, but of course that would void my warranty if other issues arise.

If this is a design/manufacturing flaw, then isn't reasonable to expect that this will happen to most units at some point? Some will be in the warranty period and some will not. Why not offer a fix for affected units, and gain some consumer trust?