Nokia is back among the smartphone elite, according to reported European sales figures.
Figures from the first three months of 2018 suggest Nokia has broken back into the top five manufacturers.
According to the estimates from Canalys, Nokia-branded phones, built by HMD Global, shipped 1.6 million units. That’s a 3.5% share of the market.
Related: New Nokia phones 2018
The company trails Samsung (15.2m sales, 33.1% share), Apple (10.2m, 22.2%), Huawei (7.4m, 16.1%) and Xiaomi (2.4m, 5.3%).
Interestingly, for Xiaomi, it’s a figure represented as a “>999%” increase in European sales.
Anyway, back to Nokia. While 1.6 million sales won’t make too many headlines, it’s highly significant progress for HMD Global as it looks to put the Nokia name back on the map.
Significantly, it sold more handsets than the bigger names than Moto, LG and HTC.
HMD Global’s Chief Product Officer Juho Sarvikas is certainly pleased with the news.
A lot of work to do but good to see signs of progress. Thank you all for the support! ? #nokia #NokiaMobile pic.twitter.com/VSPSwwCR5b
— Juho Sarvikas (@sarvikas) May 9, 2018
What next?
Despite an overall downturn in the smartphone market, there’s plenty of room for Nokia to grow.
There’s a new Nokia 6 for 2018, carrying a more powerful Snapdragon 660 processor, the budget Nokia 1 and the nostalgic return of the banana-shaped Nokia 8810.
The higher-end Nokia X is rumoured to be arriving at an event in China next week, with a 5.9-inch 19:9 edge-t0-edge display.
If Nokia is going to get back to its glory days, those handset after going to have to go some. In 2008, one year after the iPhone launched, Nokia sold 468.4 million units worldwide.
Will your next smartphone carry the classic Nokia logo? Let us know @TrustedReviews on Twitter.
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
