Nokia Lumia 520 is Microsoft's best selling smartphone, over 12 million units are active

While it’s no secret that the Nokia Lumia 520 is the most popular Windows Phone 8 handset ever, Microsoft never revealed specific sales numbers - not until today.

Speaking at Microsoft’s Worldwide Partner Conference, CEO Kevin Turner said that there are now more than 12 million active Lumia 520 smartphones around the world (including Lumia 521 models for T-Mobile). Turner also mentioned that the 520 is the world’s best selling handset in its price range (sub $100) - though we’re not sure he has enough data to be absolutely certain of that.

Launched in early 2013, the Nokia Lumia 520 can now be purchased for as low as $50 (at least in the US). A successor to it - the Nokia Lumia 525 - was released this January, while another successor, this time running Windows Phone 8.1, might be announced in the near future as the Lumia 530.

Obviously, launching ultra-cheap Windows Phone devices is helping Microsoft a lot. We’ll see many more affordable WP smartphones from now on, as Microsoft opened up its platform to pretty much any manufacturer interested in making handsets based on it.