Nokia exceeds Q4 expectations with 4.4 million Lumia sales

Nokia beat profit forecasts for the final quarter of 2012, with healthy sales of the Lumia smartphone helping to boost its results.

The October to December period saw Nokia return to underlying profitability on the back of 6.6 million device sales, 4.4 million of which were of its Lumia smartphone. That's 1.5 million more Lumias sold than the previous quarter and represents the most purchases since the Windows smartphone was released in September 2011. Total sales of the device have now reached over 14 million.

The unexpected Q4 success of the Lumia was also accompanied by better-than-expected cost management and £41m made from patent fees.

Nokia had predicted operating margins for the fourth quarter would be around minus 6 per cent, but it now looks like they'll be 0-2 per cent.

"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 Nokia CEO Stephen 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."

Nokia shares rose by 13 per cent following the announcement.

Meanwhile, speculation is growing that Nokia will enter the tablet market with a device running on Windows sooner rather than later. 

Nokia last year dropped out of IDC's list of the top five global smartphone companies.