Nokia has posted its first quarter 2013 financial results and while it hasn’t performed as well as it did in the last quarter of 2012, there are definitive signs that the Finnish smartphone manufacturer has turned the corner.

For a start, it sold 5.6 million Lumia phones in the quarter - a record high for the company that adopted Windows Phone as its only smartphone operating system. It may not be much in comparison to Samsung and Apple phone sales, but is considerable in respect to other competition.

“At the highest level, we are pleased that Nokia Group achieved underlying operating profitability for the third quarter in a row. While operating in a highly competitive environment, Nokia is executing our strategy with urgency and managing our costs very well,” said Stephen Elop.

“We have areas where we are making progress, and areas where we are further increasing the focus. For example, people are responding positively to the Lumia portfolio, and our volumes are increasing quarter over quarter. “

Elop also hinted that more is to come from Nokia in the smartphone space in the coming months. “Our Mobile Phones business faces a difficult competitive environment and we are taking tactical actions and bringing new innovation to market to address our challenges,” he said.