Analysts iMedia Research claims 6.4 million Windows Phones were sold in China in 2012, giving the smartphone OS a 3.8% market share for that year.

This places Windows Phone 4th, with Android holding 68.6 percent, followed by iOS with 12.8 percent and Symbian with 12.4 percent.

The Chinese market is currently the world’s biggest smartphone market, and back in September 2012 Stephen Elop himself confirmed that China is also Nokia’s biggest Windows Phone market.

The news is significant due to the recent rumour of Nokia celebrating 2 million Lumia sales in 3 months. Given than 6.4 million per year equals 1.6 million a quarter, it is far from inconceivable that increasing support from carriers and even better Windows Phone 8 handsets would have raised this number above 2 million per quarter.

While we have had some sites pooh-poohing the news, I think it would be a rather bad sign for Nokia if sales are not increasing at least at that rate in China.

Do our readers agree? Let us know below.

Via Telecompaper.com