Nokia's Q1 2011: Profit Declines, Sales Increase

Aside from announcing that the deal with Microsoft has now been signed, Nokia this morning also released quarterly results.

Nokia, until further notice still the world’s largest maker of mobile phones, reported a (predicted) 1.4 percent decline in profit, albeit beating analyst estimates.

Net income was 344 million euros (roughly $500 million), compared with 349 million euros a year earlier, while sales rose 9.2 percent to 10.4 billion euros.

Smartphone sales were up 6 percent at 7 billion euros.

Nokia shipped 108.5 million mobile devices in Q1 2011 in total, up 1 percent year-on-year.

Nokia’s preliminary estimated mobile device market share was 29 percent in Q1 2011, down from an estimated 33 percent in the first quarter of 2010 and an estimated 31 percent in the fourth quarter of 2010.

The company expects operating margins from its handset business to fall in Q2 – Nokia of course faces stiff competition from iPhone, Android and Blackberry phones in the smartphone segment.