A sharp fall in sales of Nokia’s basic phones overshadowed a stronger performance from its Lumia smartphones in the first quarter, sending its shares tumbling.

The results renewed pressure on chief executive Stephen Elop, who was hired in 2010 to turn the Finnish mobile phone maker around after falling behind rivals Samsung and Apple in the smartphone race.

He made the controversial decision to switch to Microsoft’s untried Windows Phone software in early 2011 and had said the transition would take two years, a period that is now over. Analysts said he was running out of time.

Nokia said it sold 5.6 million units of Lumia handsets in the first quarter, up from 4.4 million in the previous quarter and in line with expectations.

But shipments of mobile phones slumped 21 per cent to 55.8 units, a far steeper decline than the eight per cent fall that markets expected, with unit sales down in every region.

As a result, overall net sales fell 20 per cent to €5.9 billion from a year earlier, far short of the €6.5 billion forecast by analysts in a Reuters poll. (Reuters)

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