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The world’s top cellphone maker Nokia surprised investors by taking a major writedown at its struggling networks unit and revealing a fall in its smartphone sales from the previous quarter.

Nokia, battling aggressively with competitors Apple (APPL) and RIM (RIMM) , said its smartphones market share fell to 35% in July-September from 41% the previous quarter.

"Consumer demand may be showing early signs of improvement but these results show sustained pressure on smartphone margins. Apple’s iPhone is defying gravity in the high tier," said CCS Insight analyst Geoff Blaber.

Nokia booked a $1.35 billion hit from its networks unit, citing challenging market conditions, and dragging the reported group result to a loss per share of 0.15 euros compared with expectations of a 0.09 euros per share profit Nokia’s key handset unit performed slightly better than expected in the July-September quarter as consumer demand for mobile devices started to improve in many markets.

Shares in Nokia (NOK) were down 11% to $14.30 in pre-market trading.  

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