Nokia posts operating loss of €115 million despite rising Lumia sales

But the latest quarterly earning figures did show an underlying profitability

Nokia Lumia 925

Nokia is continuing to battle against the odds to claim a position as the third global smartphone ecosystem. Sales of the company's flagship Lumia range running Windows Phone 8 are rising but the Finnish manufacturers are still suffering yearly operating losses.

The latest release of second quarter earnings for 2013 have shown the company posting an operating loss of €115 million from net sales of €5.695 billion. This still compares favourably to figures from the same time last year where there were losses of €826 million.

However, other's have noted that when examining the company's non-IFRS numbers (this excludes expenses not related to day-to-day business operations, and therefore attempts to identify underlying profitablity), then the profit for the quarter was up - at €303 million.

Part of this success is stemming from record shipments of Lumia Windows Phones - increasing from 5.6 million units to 7.4 million over the past two quarters - though this must be offset against the falling ASP (average selling price) for Nokia devices. The launch of handsets such as the Lumia 520/521 - the cheapest Windows Phone, selling for $140 SIM-free or £11/month - are responsible for the drop.

Nokia quarterly performance | Infographics