Nokia Posts Q4 2013 Earnings, Profits $269m With $10.6b In Revenue

Nokia may be struggling a bit, but its Q4 2012 earnings report shows that the company made a profit this time around. They earned a revenue of $10.6 billion, which is down from $13.4 billion a year ago, mostly thanks to declining sales. However, they ended up profiting $269 million (net profits) for the quarter, compared to a $1 billion loss a year ago.

As far as smartphone sales go, Nokia said it sold 15.9 million smartphones, including 4.4 million Lumia phones, during Q4 2012, which is down from 19.6 million a year ago. However, they sold a total of 86.4 million mobile phones altogether. In comparison with Apple, who announced their earnings yesterday, the Cupertino-based company sold almost 48 million iPhones during the last quarter, compared to Nokia's 15.9 million in smartphone sales.

Perhaps the biggest hit that Nokia took this quarter was that the company sold only 4.6 million handsets in China, a 69% drop from a year ago, with sales revenue in the country down 79% to $284.4 million from the previous quarter. While Nokia CEO Stephen Elop said he was excited about the company reaching a profit, he cautioned that more cutbacks may be imminent.

Nokia had led the mobile phone market share for 14 years, with its global market share peaking at 40% in 2008, but Samsung recently overtook the once-dominant company as the world's top mobile phone maker. However, Nokia's "better than expected" sales of their new Lumia phones proved to be a huge help in getting the company into the black.