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Nokia’s new range said to include a Lumia phablet

by Mark Tyson on 18 April 2013, 14:22

Tags: Nokia (NYSE:NOK), Windows Phone

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Nokia is back in the red after a nudging into profitability in Q4 2012. The Finnish phone maker today reported its total sales of mobile phones fell 30 per cent in the first quarter of 2013. In turn revenue fell 20 per cent to 5.85bn Euros and it incurred an operating loss of around 339m Euros. The Nokia Lumia smartphone range provided a sunnier aspect for the company’s future as these higher value handset sales rose 27 per cent during this first quarter of 2013.

The markets didn’t like the results and Nokia shares have fallen 13 per cent in value at the time of writing. When Steven Elop took over as chief exec in 2010 he put together a turnaround plan and took the decision to switch to the Windows Phone platform in early 2011. Reuters reports that this time is nearly up with one more quarter to go before he has to start showing more convincingly that the company is on the right track. All the time Nokia’s bread and butter basic handset business, supporting the company through change, is eroding.

Looking at the Q1 2013 sales figures gives us the following breakdown:

  • Lumia: 5.6 million
  • Asha: 5 million
  • Symbian: 0.5 million
  • Other mobiles: 44.7 million

The big reduction in sales revenue came from the cheaper side of the market including the Asha range, which sold 46 per cent less than in the last quarter and so called “dumb phones”. Hakan Wranne, an analyst at Swedbank said “The shortfall is in the cheaper mobile phone side, where both volumes and average selling prices came lower than expected.” He added that “I think we will see the market's profit estimates for 2014 come down”.

New Lumias and a Lumia phablet

The Financial Times reports that Nokia is to continue to forge ahead with its focus on the Lumia range with “a number of flagship launches later this year, including a first move into the supersized tablet phone market”.

We have already seen glimpses of specs and components for a new Lumia 928 model. This is purported to be a tweaked-up Nokia Lumia 920 with a thinner and lighter body, a super AMOLED display and a Xenon flash. The 928 isn’t the rumoured aluminium bodied “Catwalk” and will retain a polycarbonate construction.

“Those with knowledge of the company’s plans” said that a new Lumia phablet is in the works which will be comparable in size to the Samsung Galaxy Note range but “with more advanced specifications”. For people who like to have a smartphone with a great integrated camera “a July launch is being considered for a handset that has a 40 megapixel camera and a flash.” That will be a proper PureView Lumia.



HEXUS Forums :: 21 Comments

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I think this result is a disaster for Nokia and signals the end.

They have no plans for a new high end phone this year - while Samsung, HTC and Apple are all marching forward with new devices every twelve months.

Nokia have literally put all their eggs in the basket with the 920 and 820 and the numbers show people are not that interested.
Brewster0101
I think this result is a disaster for Nokia and signals the end.

They have no plans for a new high end phone this year - while Samsung, HTC and Apple are all marching forward with new devices every twelve months.

Nokia have literally put all their eggs in the basket with the 920 and 820 and the numbers show people are not that interested.
Did you read the bit about the July launch?

I'm guessing that would qualify as ‘high end’ right?

The S4 is an odd one as the only new features I saw there are directly relating to software… Except for the IR LED, that is cool.

What actually is there to do on phones but innovate on software. We're at the stage where the screens are good, the processors fast, the storage fast, the networks a massive bottleneck but that's outside their control.

Battery Life? Well people say that want that. I get a lot more from my 920 than I do the S3 or when I had an iPhone. But it is heavy, people criticise it for being heavy. Basically consumers have voted with their wallet, they don't want battery life.

As a result getting their latest and greatest pureview technology out would be a good idea. It would also be unrivaled by anything else, the 808 is still the best phone camera, by miles. If they've been able to optically stabilise that shizzle, then woh, I'll buy one.

The thing is on this Q last year, sales are up on the high margin devices, its in some ways promising. If they keep that trend going this year, they will be in a much better place come 2014.
TheAnimus
Did you read the bit about the July launch?


I'm guessing that would qualify as ‘high end’ right?

There are no specs, designs or images of such a device (albeit confirmed). The FT in London seems to be the only place sporting this rumour. I would say that if this was a new flag ship model for Nokia they would have given the public a glimps. I think this will be like the 808, mid range phone with high end camera.
TheAnimus
The S4 is an odd one as the only new features I saw there are directly relating to software… Except for the IR LED, that is cool.

1080P screen, bigger screen, new octo core CPU (in some countries)all seem big new features.
Brewster0101
1080P screen, bigger screen, new octo core CPU (in some countries)all seem big new features.
Really? The only one that is big is the screen. I doubt that the octo core will make it more snappy. But as is I think everyones phone is slowed mostly by the network. If people wanted a phone that felt fast they wouldn't be on Android anyway, seriously, my relegated to testing only Omnia7 is far faster than the S3 for anything but web browsing or task switching.

Why would anyone pay £400 for it, if they had a S3.

I also doubt anyone gives a hoot about 1080p.

The thing that mattered for Samsung is it had a device which looked good, ticked the geek tick boxes and was cheap. Operators got good subsidies and it sold like hot cakes.

I only mentioned the rumor because it's not really fair to say “well samsung have a S4 out now”, because the 920 was released about 6 months after the S3. I don't see how they need to announce a phone now, to compete with the S4. The S4 is using software things which I don't think people will understand. Short of some very good sales displays.

I would guess the S4 won't even sell as well as the S3 did.
TheAnimus
Battery Life? Well people say that want that. I get a lot more from my 920 than I do the S3 or when I had an iPhone. But it is heavy, people criticise it for being heavy. Basically consumers have voted with their wallet, they don't want battery life.

Please show me where there is an option to purchase any top end device with greater battery life… the market simply doesn't have that option so it couldn't possibly have chosen to have less battery life.

The Motorola RAZR Maxx is the only smart phone that has an extended battery I can find. 1 phone with an extended battery does not provide the market with the luxury of choice you seem to afford it with regards to battery life.

There is however a company that survives solely on the sale of extended battery replacements for phones, often with bulging cases to accommodate them. How do you explain the survival of such a company if the market doesn't really want extended battery life? Mugen batteries are good but they will make your phone heavier and uglier to accommodate the really large options but they sell.