Nokia is looking to Windows Phone 8 to arrest a troubling decline after another poor set of financial results in what the company has described as a 'difficult' quarter.

Nokia has more or less bet its smartphone farm on Microsoft's Windows Phone, and will take some solace from the fact that it has sold four million of its Windows Lumia range in the quarter, an unspectacular but solid figure in line with analyst predictions.

With total phone sales of 73 million, the Finnish giant is still a major player – but its smartphone market share needs to increase significantly as emerging markets shift on from feature phones.

Urgent action

"Nokia is taking action to manage through this transition period," said CEO Stephen Elop.

"While Q2 was a difficult quarter, Nokia employees are demonstrating their determination to strengthen our competitiveness, improve our operating model and carefully manage our financial resources.

"We shipped four million Lumia Smartphones in Q2, and we plan to provide updates to current Lumia products over time, well beyond the launch of Windows Phone 8.

"We believe the Windows Phone 8 launch will be an important catalyst for Lumia."

With Windows Phone 8 unlikely to arrive in the next quarter, Nokia is not expecting a turnaround any time soon, but it's clear that urgent action is necessary.

"While Q3 will remain difficult, it is a critical priority to return our Devices & Services business to positive operating cash flow as quickly as possible," concluded Elop.