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Nokia turns a corner: Lumia sales jump as smartphone business begins recovery

4.4 million Windows Phones in Q4 2012

Nokia turns a corner: Lumia sales jump as smartphone business begins recovery
After a succession of quarterly results depicting a general decline, Finnish giant Nokia has finally delivered some good news.

Numbers released ahead of the firm's Q4 2012 results reveal that the firm's flagship Lumia range beat quarterly projections, with 4.4 million units slipping into the pockets of consumers.

That's not exactly a figure that will strike fear into the hearts of those at Samsung or Apple, but it's a notable rise on the 2.9 million sold in the previous quarter and the 1 million Lumias had sold in total post launch in Q4 2011.

Lumia love

Such a figure puts Lumia shipments comfortably ahead of Symbian handsets – the range it effectively replaced in Nokia's line-up – on 2.2 million units sold.

The firm's Asha range, which is aimed at the developing world, sold 9.3 million units.

In all, Q4 2012 saw a total of 79.6 million Nokia handsets sold, down from the 113.5 million sold during the same quarter in 2011.

Nonetheless, the momentum gained by Nokia's refreshed Lumia range – now running Windows Phone 8 – delivered a positive quarter for the company according to CEO Stephen Elop.



"We are pleased that Q4 2012 was a solid quarter where we exceeded expectations and delivered underlying profitability in Devices & Services and record underlying profitability in Nokia Siemens Networks," said Elop.

"We focused on our priorities and as a result we sold a total of 14 million Asha smartphones and Lumia smartphones while managing our costs efficiently, and Nokia Siemens Networks delivered yet another very good quarter."

[source: Nokia]

With a fine eye for detail, Keith Andrew is fuelled by strong coffee, Kylie Minogue and the shapely curve of a san serif font.