The maker of the HTC One X smartphone has seen profits collapse by 90% in the fourth quarter 2012, as phone buyers throw their money at its Samsung and Apple rivals.
HTC’s net profit in the fourth quarter was T$1bn (£215m), down from the T$11bn it made this time last year – significantly below analysts’ expectations. Overall revenue was T$60bn.
One of the key problems for HTC was not releasing any new smart phones during the period. It has since released the HTC One X+ (see review here) and the HTC Windows Phone 8X (see review in What Mobile’s February issue, on sale January 17) in the UK, and has launched a new range of ‘Butterfly’ smartphones in Japan – all of which have been well received.
The bad news is that this is the fourth quarter in a row that HTCs profits have fallen. While once the unofficial flagship for Android just a few years ago, it has since passed the torch to Samsung and is rapidly fading into irrelevance in that and Apple’s near duopoly of the smartphone market.
With the imminent launch of the Samsung Galaxy S4 (an early build is being shown to select executives at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas), HTC’s fortunes don’t look like improving any time soon.
