WP Central

Nokia has reportedly shipped 6.9 million Lumias

Sales numbers and estimates are always a tricky thing, especially when you don’t have concrete numbers to work with. We also tend to boast the good news and downplay the bad so with that caveat we’ll provide you the latest in “market analysis”. Don’t worry, this one is mostly good.

Strategy Analytics is making quite the name for themselves this day if only because they tend to buck the trend when it comes to Nokia and Windows Phone. In their latest report (available here to subscribers), they claim that Nokia shipped (not necessarily sold) 6.9 million Lumia Windows Phone since its launch in Q4 2011 and up through Q2 2012. 

WP Central

Assuming that number is accurate, Nokia Lumia phones are outpacing shipments of the 1st generation iPhone (2007) and Samsung Android devices from 2009. The former only had 3.7 million units and the latter 1.3. The spin that Strategy Analytics puts on this is that Nokia and their Lumia line aren’t doing too bad, especially when you consider their global reach and marketing efforts. As SA’s Neil Mawtson noted:

“Based on historical shipment benchmarks, Nokia’s new Lumia portfolio is performing reasonably well. Some of the pessimism surrounding Nokia and Microsoft’s emerging partnership so far may be misplaced. However, Nokia and Microsoft are clearly not out of the woods yet. With a new Apple iPhone 5 expected on the horizon, and Samsung’s Galaxy S3 selling in huge quantities, Nokia will need to pull something impressive out of the bag for the next-generation Windows Phone 8 launch later this year to sustain its tentative early momentum.”

Of course SA points out that with the iPhone 5 coming and Android plowing straight ahead, the competition is still very real and a daunting task for both Nokia and Microsoft. And as BGR points out, comparing smartphone sales with the iPhone (2007) and Android (2009) is not necessarily fair or accurate as things have drastically changed since that time. In addition, it's clear that the AT&T initiative with the Lumia 900 hasn't exactly been a huge success either with less than estimated 400,000 units shipped.

It goes to show you though that the barrier for success has radically changed from just a few years ago, making it difficult for the new guys to get any credit. Whereas 3.7 million shipped phones in 2007 was an amazing accomplishment, 6.9 million just a few years later is considered to be a failure by some.  Hopefully this SA report will put some perspective on things, assuming that shipment number is accurate.

Source: Strategy Analytics; via BGR