Nokia has appointed Eirk Bertman to serve as its new general manager of Nokia China, effective June 1, 2013. Bertman will replace outgoing Gustavo Eichelmann who will resign for personal reasons, DigiTimes reported.

The new appointment makes Bertman the fourth chief of Nokia China in less than four years, indicating tough market conditions for the handset vendor in China.

Nokia has been facing fierce competition in China's smartphone segment due to the continual introduction of low-cost Android phones from local vendors, while sales of its feature phones, including the latest touch-enabled Asha models, have also been lower than expected because of replacement effects caused by smartphones, industry sources noted.

Sales of Nokia phones in the greater China area suffered a decline of 56% on-year in terms of value and 63% in terms of shipment volumes in the first quarter of 2013, the sources indicated.

Furthermore, the ratio of greater China sales to Nokia's total revenues dropped to 9% in the first quarter of 2013, down from 17% of a year earlier.

Looking forward, market conditions in China remain unfavorable for Nokia given that the Lumia lineup is struggling to compete with top-end Android phones in terms of hardware specifications, despite the fact that Nokia has added some innovative features to high-end Lumia models, the sources commented.

Additionally, prices of current entry-level and mid-range Lumia phones are also not attractive enough in the sub-CNY1,000 (US$163) smartphone segment, the sources added, according toDigiTimes.