Microsoft’s new handset division lost $452 million in Q1, sales down 30%

NOKIA’s DISCONTINUED OPERATIONS RESULTS SUMMARY Q1 2014
EUR million	Q1/2014	Q1/2013	YoY Change	Q4/2013	QoQ Change
Net sales	1 929	2 765	-30%	2 633	-27%
Non-IFRS gross margin (%)	16.2%	21.9%		20.3%
Non-IFRS operating expenses	-597	-660	-10%	-717	-17%
Non-IFRS operating margin (%)	-15.9%	-2.6%		-7.3%
Operating margin (%)	-16.9%	-4.3%		-7.5%

Nokia today published their Q1 2014 results , and offered what is likely the last look we will have into the handset division which has just passed to Microsoft.

Unfortunately what that look offers does not bode very well for the future.  Total revenue is down 30% YoY and 27% QoQ, and the division lost  €326 million (~$452M) 597 million Euro ($827 million) over the quarter. The operating loss widened to 326 million euros, from a 73 million euro loss a year ago.

The bad news is that both Nokia’s feature phone and smart devices sales were down, due to intense competition they say, though Nokia does not break this down by OS.

Smart device unit sales were up YoY but down QoQ. This is despite falling Average Selling Prices.

Update: Post title modified to indicate correct loss amount.

They write:

The year-on-year and sequential declines in discontinued operations net sales in the first quarter 2014 were primarily due to lower Mobile Phones net sales and, to a lesser extent, lower Smart Devices net sales.

On both a year-on-year and sequential basis, our Mobile Phones net sales were affected by competitive industry dynamics, including intense smartphone competition at increasingly lower price points and intense competition at the low end of our product portfolio. Our Smart Devices net sales were affected by competitive industry dynamics including the strong momentum of competing smartphone platforms.

On both a year-on-year and sequential basis, discontinued operations unit volumes declined in the first quarter 2014. The year-on-year decline in discontinued operations unit volumes was due to lower Mobile Phones unit volumes, partially offset by higher Smart Devices unit volumes. Sequentially, the decline in discontinued operations unit volumes was primarily due to lower Mobile Phones unit volumes and, to a lesser extent, lower Smart Devices unit volumes.

Discontinued operations Average Selling Price (ASP) declined on both a year-on-year and sequential basis in the first quarter 2014. The year-on-year and sequential declines in discontinued operations ASP were due to lower ASPs for both Smart Devices and Mobile Phones.

Discontinued operations ended the first quarter 2014 within our normal 4 to 6 week channel inventory range.

The news suggests Nokia sold less than 8.2 million Lumia handsets in Q1 2014, but due to Nokia’s varied device mix we can not really estimate exactly how many.

Does Nokia’s results indicate Windows Phone is in trouble? Let us know below.