Mobile phone market leader Nokia showed a strong Q2 recording a profit of €1.14bn ($1.44bn) on revenues of €9.83bn ($12.42bn).

That's up 22 per cent and 43 per cent from a year ago.

Under intense pricing pressure from rivals, and with most growth coming from markets which want cheaper phones, Nokia also managed to increase its margins from 12.5 per cent to 15.3 per cent. For mobile phones, it was slightly higher, at 16.7 per cent, but still fractionally up from a year ago. Nokia said the average selling price of a phone fell by a Euro, to €102.

The strong performance of its handsets and multimedia businesses offset weak results for Nokia's networks and enterprise units. The company pointed to 3m sales of N series phones - several key models have been delayed, and are only just appearing - and 30 per cent growth in its 3G business.

Nokia said it shipped 78.4m handsets in the period.Yesterday the No.2 phone manufacturer Motorola reported bullish results, and said it had shifted 51.9m phones in Q2. ®

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