As of the end of June, Nintendo has sold more than 19 million 3DS consoles worldwide.

Furthermore, the firm is no longer incurring a loss on each unit sold, with manufacturing costs finally reduced following the beleaguered handheld's 2011 price cut.

That's according to Nintendo's financial report for Q1 2012 – between April and June – with the company reporting sales of 1.86 million 3DS consoles, 900,000 of which were made in the device's strongest territory, Japan.

On the up

Such a figure is significantly up on on the 710,000 sold during the same period last year, with software sales also rising as a result – up to 7.39 million units from 4.53 million during Q1 2011.

The figures come a matter of weeks after CEO Satoru Iwata admitted 3DS sales remained weak in both North America and Europe, though the company believes the 3DS XL will "solidly revitalise the Nintendo 3DS market from this summer through fall."

The introduction of full-game downloads for the 3DS is another way that Nintendo hopes to boost sales "by enabling users to choose from the two sales methods."

Upon its launch in mid-August, New Super Mario Bros. 2 will be the first 3DS game to launch simultaneously in-store and on the 3DS eShop.

[source: Nintendo (PDF)]