Things aren’t looking too good for Nokia. According to their quarterly earnings report, it only shipped a third less in Q4 2012 compared to the amount of smartphones shipped in Q4 2011. It shipped 6.6 million smartphones in Q4 2012, which is significantly less compared to the 19.6 million in Q4 2011.
Out of the 6.6 million shipped from the months of October to December of 2012, 2.2 million units were Symbian handsets and 4.4 million units were Windows Phone-powered Lumia handsets. Units shipped refer to the amount of phones shipped to retailers and network operators and not the amount of units sold.
What is the reason for the decline in shipments? According to Nokia, the decline is due to the cutthroat competition in the smartphone market. Another reason is the decreasing number of Symbian handsets being manufactured, since Nokia is transitioning to Windows Phone.
Although 4.4 million Lumia handsets does not sound like a lot, it is still on the rise after the company announced selling 1 million Lumia handsets last year. In the US, Nokia is enjoying a 40% increase in sales, shipping 700,000 units. This suggests that Nokia’s Lumia lineup is more popular in the US than in the UK. By comparison, Apple shipped 47.8 million units of the iPhone in the same period.
In another report, Nokia is said to be still considering making devices powered by Android. Since the Finnish firm’s decision to focus on making Windows Phone-powered devices seems to go south, making the switch seems like a sound backup plan.
Do you think Nokia made a mistake focusing more on Windows Phone? Should it stick to Symbian, or should it make the switch to Android? Share your opinion through a comment on our Facebook page.
