Nokia shipped 2.2 million Lumia phones in the first three months of 2012, research firm IDC has reported. In total, the Finnish manufacturer shipped 11.9 million devices in the year's first quarter.

By contrast, Apple sold 35 million iPhones during that same time and Samsung shipped 38 million handsets.

Nokia has struggled to compete in the smartphone market and its new Lumia phones, which run Windows 7, may be the beleaguered manufacturer's best chance at cracking the market open. The Lumia 900, which features a 4.3in display and is powered by a 1.4GHz single-core processor, has reportedly racked up decent sales, though no official numbers have yet been reported.

Despite what appears on the surface to be a low number, all is not lost for Nokia. More time is needed before the Lumia range can be pegged as either a success or a failure, given that its worldwide availability is thus far limited to just a few networks, said IDC analyst Kevin Restivo.

The year's second and third quarters will likely serve as more accurate predictors of how successful the Lumias will be. Check out our review of the GSM version of the Lumia 900.