Nokia is keen to grow its business in the United States

Many of the new models feature a slide-open design and cameras with a resolution of up to two megapixels.

Nokia lost market share last year due to a lack of mid-priced camera phones and popular folding clamshell handsets.

Rival mobile phone maker Sony Ericsson also unveiled five new handsets which it hopes will improve its presence in the low to mid-range market.

Youth market

Sony Ericsson, the world's fifth largest mobile phone maker, lost ground and saw its profits fall in the first quarter of 2005, in part due to a lack of new handsets.

With their new models, they've filled out their product portfolio by targeting fairly sensible segments Nick Ingelbrecht, a telecoms analyst at Gartner

Its new phones include the S600, aimed at the youth market, the Z520 clamshell, and the J210 - a model offering basic functions.

"We are widening our range in the low cost and medium segment," said Per Alksten, Sony Ericsson's product market chief.

Nokia said it would beat its forecast for launching 40 new handsets in 2005. It has introduced 33 to date, including the seven announced on Monday.

Despite its setback in 2004, the world's largest handset maker reported better-than-forecast January-to-March earnings.

Nevertheless, it said it was facing strong competition in the US and Latin America from Motorola of the US and Samsung of South Korea.

Analysts welcomed the company's new models, saying they would help Nokia compete in the US. Three of the models conform to the CDMA standard, popular in the US and Asia.

"With their new models, they've filled out their product portfolio by targeting fairly sensible segments like CDMA and 3G, rather than going for sensational products, which is good," said Nick Ingelbrecht, a telecoms analyst at research company Gartner.

Nokia produces one in every three mobile phones sold around the world.