Nokia has announced its preliminary Q4 financial report, and from the looks of it, it might seem that the worst is behind the ailing mobile company. According to the report, Nokia sold a total of 86.3 million mobile phones, of which 9.3 million were the popular Asha Touch smart feature phones. In addition, 6.6 million units were smart devices, of which 4.4 were smartphones from the Lumia line and the rest from the Symbian platform.

Nokia mentioned in the report that the amount of Lumia smartphones sold has managed to deliver better than expected results, as well as a lower than expected operating costs were among the factors which may result in a better than expected Q4 result, where the company could finally break even or even post a profit for the quarter, instead of the estimated -6% loss. In addition, the company also received a one-time payment of 50m euros from RIM as part of the patent infringement settlement with Nokia.

However, the report also provided an outlook for the next quarter, where Nokia estimates that they will post a -2% loss. The company explained that Q1 is a seasonally weak one for the industry, as well as the company’s continued restructuring program.

The news will come as a pleasant surprise for CEO Stephen Elop, especially since the larger-than-expected sales of the Lumia smartphones – in particular the flagship Lumia 920 – running the Windows Phone 8 operating system being a catalyst for the company’s improved financials. However, with the recent survey by Bernstein indicating low levels of platform loyalty for the Windows Phone ecosystem, it may just be that Nokia’s heads may not be out of the woods just yet.

(Source: Nokia Press)