Sales of Nokia Lumia 920 are better than expected, according to a financial analyst. On the one hand, this may signal a success of the smartphone, but on the other hand this may mean that the initial volumes of Nokia Lumia produced were too low to meet any substantial demand.

“Nokia’s Windows Phone model 920 is doing better than expected, and the outlook may continue to improve,” wrote Ilkka Rauvola, an analyst with Danske Bank, in a note to clients, reports Bloomberg news-agency.

The analyst now expects 36 million smartphones using Microsoft Corp.’s Windows Phone 8 operating system, such as Nokia Lumia 820 and 920, to be sold in 2013, up from an earlier estimate of 23 million devices.

Nokia reportedly admitted earlier this week that it had received reports that its new Lumia 920 smartphone had sold out in Germany. Such reports may reflect very high demand for Nokia, which is a good news for the company, or Nokia’s small initial volumes, which is a bad news for the company as it shows management’s continuous inability to correctly predict demand for devices.

Nokia currently offers two high-end Windows Phone 8-powered smartphones: smaller Nokia Lumia 820 and larger Nokia 920. Both are are based on dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 system-on-chips (SoCs), come with 4.3" (800*480) and 4.5" (1280*768) high-quality screens as well as 1GB of RAM, which means that both will be able to run leading-edge applications designed for the Windows Phone 8 platform. Both phones also feature Synaptics ClearPad 3 touch-screens with Super Sensitive touch technology that offers up to 10 finger full-time tracking and fast refresh rates, with industry leading signal-to-noise-ratio (SNR). The Nokia Lumia 920 also comes with Nokia's largest ever battery (2000mAh) and, for the first time, built-in wireless charging for an easy, convenient way to get more out of every day. The Lumia 820 can also support wireless charging.

The Nokia Lumia 820 and 920 also come with Nokia City Lens, the latest addition to the Nokia location suite. By pointing the camera at a city street, City Lens overlays information about restaurants, shops, hotels and more on the surfaces of buildings, for the most intuitive way to explore surroundings. Nokia City Lens is the start of a new augmented reality experience that also enhances Nokia Maps, making it possible to move between maps view and augmented reality view to help people check their direction and surroundings. Along with enhancements to Nokia Drive and Nokia Transport, the Nokia location suite of services represents one the most comprehensive, integrated mapping experience of any smartphone.

Tags: Nokia, Windows Phone, Microsoft, Lumia, Qualcomm, Snapdragon