Estimates point to Nexus 4 sales of approximately 400,000 units

Thanks to a bit of detective work and a cooperative LG database, users over at XDA-Developers have derived a way to determine when and where a Nexus 4 was manufactured, and what number it was in the line that month. While this method cannot give us accurate sales numbers of the hard-to-come-by Google device, it does give us some insight into LG’s manufacturing structure and how quickly they are being sold after coming to fruition.

Using known keys from the Serial Number on the box — or, even better, by entering your IMEI number into this field — LG produces a string of characters that are less useful on a macro scale than they appear, but can be of service to users figuring out which batch their devices came from.

I have figured out how to identify the production date and place based on the serial number, found on the box. The S/N inside the phone doesn’t have to do anything with the one, printed on the box! Also, don’t mix SN with IMEI.

Production date is encoded in the first 3 positions (reading from left to right):
1st position defines YEAR: 0 – 2010, 1 – 2011, 2 – 2012, 3 – 2013 and so on
2rd and 3rd define MONTH: 01 – January, 02 – February, 03 – March, 04 – April, 05 – May, 06 – June, 07 – July, 08 – August, 09 – September, 10 – October, 11 – November, 12 – December

4th position defines county:
K – Korea, C – China.

For example:
211KPBF****** (last 6 digits are hidden for security reasons):

So, 211 – 2012 November (11), K – Korea.

Hope, this helps! P.S. Last 6 numbers of the serial number match the last 6 numbers of the IMEI. It is incremented by 1 with each newly produced unit.

For example, when I entered the IMEI from my phone, it kicked back: LGE960 ACAGBK ________180723_ 212KPFX180723 20121205 CAG 20121207 N CANADA_OPEN

Let’s break it down:

LGE960: Model number
ACAGBK: ACA – Destined for Canada
G – 16GB
BK – black
________180723_ – IMEI (redacted)
 212KPFX180723: 2 – 2012
12 – December
KPFX – Manufactured in Korea
180723 – production number (180,723rd in that line)
20121205: Manufactured on December 5th
CAG: ???
20121207: Shipped to Google on December 7th
CANADA_OPEN: Canadian Google Play Store

Now, the approximate sales number of 400,000 comes from adding up the manufacturing tallies for October (70,000), November (90,000) and December (210,000) and coming to a very rough estimate. But it’s safe to say that, based on Google’s poor track record in providing stock to consumers, the Nexus 4 will easily be the most successful of its smartphones released to date.

Source: XDA-Developers
Via: TechCrunch