Google Nexus 4 sales estimated over 400,000 by forum
updated 08:16 am EST, Thu January 3, 2013
IMEI, LG website key to handset sales figures
Users of the Google Nexus 4 may have worked out how many devices have shipped, with initial estimates bordering around 400,000 by the end of last year. Owners of the LG smartphone have used IMEI and serial numbers supplied with each handset to work out how many were produced, as well as other production details, in lieu of officially-released sales numbers.
Members of the XDA-Developers forum managed to decode the IMEI, a number unique to each handset, with the first three positions of the code denoting the year and month of manufacture, and the fourth giving the country of production. By putting the IMEI at the end of a specific LG URL, a long string of characters is returned to the user, which offers even more information than what the IMEI alone can provide. These details include the country the device was sold in, storage capacity, color, the exact production date, and the production number of the device.
Although estimated to have sold over 400,000 handsets since launch, the Nexus 4 is still suffering from stock problems. After being oversold at launch, the Nexus 4 has appeared in-stock in various markets for a short period of time before being sold out.
