Nokia’s Lumia 1020 handset will launch on 25 September in the UK, with its UK vice-president claiming there is a “strong appetite” for the smartphone. The handset will go on sale across O2, Three, Vodafone, EE, Carphone Warehouse and Phones 4U.

The Lumia 1020 handset can be pre-ordered from this week, said Nokia, whose handset division was purchased by Microsoft last week. The first customers will be given a sweetener which includes a free tripod and camera grip.

Conor Pierce, vice-president of Nokia UK and Ireland, said: We are delighted with the response we have received from the UK marketplace. It is clear that there is a strong appetite for a smartphone with such unrivalled image taking capabilities. The ability to express your imaging creativity and then share instantly really does put this phone in a class of its own.

The Nokia Lumia 1020 brings together its impressive camera technology with the Windows Phone 8 OS. The handset features a 4.5” display, 2GB of RAM, and a 1.5 GHz dual-core Snapdragon S4 processor, but its key selling point is undoubtedly the 41MP sensor camera, which comes with its own app, Nokia Pro Camera, and an imaging SDK for developers.

The camera has a dual capture feature, which simultaneously takes high- and low-resolutions photos, with the latter being intended for quickly sharing on social networks without compromising quality. The real question, though, is whether the handset could be successful enough to turn around the fortunes of Nokia, which has struggled in recent years – or even help Windows Phone 8 finally find its audience.