Did Nokia take 2.5M preorders for the Lumia 920? Maybe.

Nokia has yet to release a report detailing Lumia 920 sales, and until that time is upon us we can only speculate and estimate what said numbers will actually be. There's much anticipation to see whether Nokia has received such high levels of demand that the well established manufacturer simply cannot build enough Lumia 920s to throw at retailers and carriers, or we're simply seeing low levels of stock being produced at launch.

According to a report over at Yahoo China, pre-ordered (and purchased) Lumia 920 numbers have exceeded 2.5 million, slightly less than the total number of Lumia Windows Phones sold in the last quarter combined. If this is accurate, we are seeing massive demand for not only Nokia's flagship handset, but Windows Phone 8 as well.

We'll remain skeptical and believe that simply not enough stock is available, but there's always the possibility...

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If you haven't already read our in-depth review of the Lumia 920, we recommend doing so as it's a superb look on Nokia's latest innovation. We believe it to be one of the best options out there if you're looking at purchasing a Windows Phone, alongside the HTC 8X and upcoming Samsung ATIV S - each with its own unique features.

The way Nokia, Microsoft and partners have marketed the Lumia 920 (as well as the special deals that have been published) we wouldn't be surprised at a high number of orders for the device. Sporting a 4.5" IPS display with ClearTouch HD+ technology, 8MP PureView camera, 32GB storage, 1GB RAM, as well as Nokia's exclusive services and apps in the Nokia Collection, it's no surprise that the handset could be a popular choice.

Nokia moved 2.9 million Lumia Windows Phones last quarter. If strong sales of not only the Lumia 920, but the Lumia 820 too are present then we could see a large increase, which is exactly what the manufacturer needs in its current situation. As a slightly off-topic note: Nokia's stock has also been on the rise lately, as we've recently touched on - jumping 21% in just five days.  Today it was 7.5% higher at $3.56 a share.

Nokia has made sure that its previous Lumia windows Phone line of devices paved the way for an easy release in multiple markets. The Lumia 920 has been made available in the US, Europe, in Commonwealth countries, as well as Asia, which allows for a strong number of them to be sold (or at least ordered) by consumers in multiple markets.

Lumia 920 Meme

We've had UK retailer Clove inform us of higher-than-expected demand, with retailers across the country selling out within hours. Combine that with AT&T and Rogers where it was nigh impossible to locate a carrier store that has any in stock. Across the ocean was Telstra announcing on Twitter they were overwhelmed by the interest in the Lumia 920. It's an exciting pattern we're seeing across the board.

The big question we need answers to is: is the demand actual high levels of interest for the Lumia 920, or is it due to low stock levels?

Do we believe it to be farfetched that Nokia may have too many orders to get processed? Absolutely, to a degree. While neither Nokia or Microsoft are expecting majority of consumers to suddenly look and Windows Phone and think, "Yeah, I want one now!" they will have predicted a sudden surge with marketing, Windows 8 and more advanced hardware being made possible thanks to development in the latest version.

As mentioned in the opening paragraph, we'll have to wait for actual details and figures from Nokia. But it's interesting to speculate demand.

Source: Yahoo! (Bing Translate)

Rich Edmonds
Senior Editor, PC Build

Rich Edmonds was formerly a Senior Editor of PC hardware at Windows Central, covering everything related to PC components and NAS. He's been involved in technology for more than a decade and knows a thing or two about the magic inside a PC chassis. You can follow him on Twitter at @RichEdmonds.