Sam Oliver
HTC expects that its second quarter net profit will drop by 57 percent to $247.7 million in the June quarter, less than half what it earned in the same period a year prior. That number was also significantly below what market analysts expected.
The Taiwanese handset maker blamed poor economic conditions in Europe, according to Reuters, for its disappointing sales. In addition, HTC saw some of its phones held up by U.S. Customs after Apple was awarded an injunction for patent infringement.
While HTC struggles, another smartphone maker that primarily sells Android handsets, Samsung, expects to see record profits from its June quarter. This week Samsung provided guidance for profits of 6.7 trillion won ($5.9 billion) from the three-month span, handily besting its previous record of 5.85 trillion won from the first quarter of this year.
While Apple and Samsung continue to see record sales, HTC has languished and failed to compete with the two companies in the high-end smartphone market. In April, HTC announced that its pre-tax profits fell by almost 70 percent, while total sales also fell by almost a third.
HTC's One X smartphone
According to IDC, HTC was the fifth-largest smartphone maker in the world in the first quarter of calendar 2012. Its 6.9 million shipped smartphones were behind Research in Motion (9.7 million), Nokia (11.9 million), Apple (35.1 million), and Samsung (42.2 million).
HTC hopes that its newly launched One X smartphone will give it some traction once again in the high-end smartphone market. It's an Android-powered device that features a 4.7-inch 720p high-definition display, with a 1.5 gigahertz dual-core processor and 4G LTE high-speed data connectivity.
While Apple and Samsung compete at the top of the market, an accurate comparison of actual smartphone sales is impossible, as Samsung does not provide such data. Apple discloses iPhone sales in its own quarterly earnings report, which the company will do again for its June quarter on Tuesday, July 24 at 2 p.m. Pacific, 5 p.m. Eastern.
Amber Neely
Malcolm Owen
Andrew Orr
Christine McKee
Andrew O'Hara
William Gallagher
42 Comments
Aren't they the 3rd most profitable handset vendor after Apple and Samsung? At least they are turning a profit.
HTC isn't handling the thermonuclear war too well.
an accurate comparison of actual smartphone sales to end users is impossible, as Samsung does not provide such data.
I've always viewed this as ridiculously shady. Then again, it's Samsung we're talking about. They've turned deception and evasion into an art.
Apple's revenue is not reported as sales to end-users either. These two AI sentences are constructed so as to be misleading IMO.
The One X has a quad core processor, the main thing against HTC is they can't compete against Samsung's hype.
While they were focussing on Apple, Samsung basically left them with nothing but crumbs.
The One X is every bit as good as a Galaxy S III.
I find it very amusing that the Fandroids (really just Apple haters) move from one manufacturer to another depending on the proposed iPhone killer du jour. At one time Motorola was the be all end all of smarthphones, the one that would destroy Apple. Then as Moto started to trail off this crowd hitched their wagons to HTC. Now Samsung is the White Knight that will deal the death blow and save mankind from the walled garden. In the tablet world it was... hell, I don't even remember. Then it was the Fire, then the Galaxy Tab, now the Nexus 7. I wonder what happens when some of these manufacturers decide to go with yet another mobile OS. Rumors are flying that Firefox OS is around the corner. Samsung has its own OS if it wants to go that way. Fine and dandy but it all revolves around defeating Apple and taking that profit crown away.