HTC profits collapse 70% in face of competition from Apple, Samsung

Posted:
in iPhone edited January 2014


Facing more intense competition from rivals Apple and Samsung, HTC announced on Friday that its pre-tax profits fell by almost 70 percent.



Total sales also fell by about a third in the first quarter of 2012, according to the Financial Times. The company said the products it launched in late 2011 did not match up well against Apple's iPhone 4S and the Samsung Galaxy Note.



HTC primarily relies on Google's Android mobile operating system for its phones, though it also sells devices running the Windows Phone platform. The company is the No. 3 smartphone maker in the world, behind Apple and Samsung.



HTC's disappointing results arrive as Samsung posted a record quarter with $5.1 billion in profit from $39.8 billion in sales. Samsung's first-quarter profit jumped nearly 100 percent year over year, while revenue increased by 20 percent.



Apple alone controls about 75 percent of the mobile industry's profits, and its next closest competitor is Samsung. Together, the two companies account for 90 percent of industry profits.











HTC officials admitted in February that their company was in the midst of a product transition that would hurt sales in early 2012. They specifically cited Apple's iPhone lineup and Samsung's smartphone offerings in the U.S. as the primary reason.



The smartphone maker also indicated in February that sales of its 4G LTE devices were lower than expected. HTC was one of the first companies to embrace high-speed long-term evolution wireless technology, while Apple recently introduced its first true 4G device, the new iPad, a month ago.



[ View article on AppleInsider ]

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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 113
    Good riddence..
  • Reply 2 of 113
    blastdoorblastdoor Posts: 3,258member
    Samsung has an opportunity here to become the Apple of Android. Samsung should create its own fork of Android, its own appstore, cloud service, etc.



    It probably wouldn't work because Samsung lacks the software expertise, but it's their best shot of moving into the same league as Apple, and Samsung is the only company in the world that has this opportunity. If Samsung can't seize this window of opportunity, then Apple will be unstoppable.



    My guess is that this window of opportunity will stay open for about one more year.



    I'm also guessing that Samsung will fail to seize it.
  • Reply 3 of 113
    icelticiceltic Posts: 11member
    So the moral of the story; if you want to win copy Apple.

    But I am sure some one will spin it in a different way.
  • Reply 4 of 113
    davdav Posts: 115member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Blastdoor View Post


    Samsung has an opportunity here to become the Apple of Android. Samsung should create its own fork of Android, its own appstore, cloud service, etc.



    Samsung: "The Apple for the rest of us"
  • Reply 5 of 113
    mcrcnmcrcn Posts: 27member
    What happened to all those great Droid phones HTC were selling? Must have forgotten to build in some profit on the race to the bottom.
  • Reply 6 of 113
    First, Android and Window 7 mobile are craps compare to iOS.



    Secondly, HTC, unlike Samsung, never comes out with real attractive design model that can attract buyers to be excited about, some how i feel all their model design look quite the same as each other ( just look at the picture) in this stroy



    Thirdly, I think the marketing and advertise team in HTC are really craps too. They don't seems to have very huge and exciting advertisement or events to catch attention to the consumer. I hardly notice that when they have new models coming out or that particular phone is actually a new model



    Samsung does great in trying to come out with design that try to pull iPhone owner over and always have good advertisement, campaign and PR methods to catch attention on their up coming new models. They are even very good as using apple's strong name now and try to like fight law suit or say things bad about Apple products just to catch attaction.



    I thing that is why HTC lost out a lot in market share to Samsung, not to even mention Apple
  • Reply 7 of 113
    ijordanijordan Posts: 19member
    Good. These phone makers that do nothing but throw some open-source software on some cheap plastic and provide minuscule support for them need to go away.
  • Reply 8 of 113
    Good one.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by dav View Post


    Samsung: "The Apple for the rest of us"



  • Reply 9 of 113
    solipsismxsolipsismx Posts: 19,566member
    Are those its flagship phones because I only recognize one by name. The Rezound, and I'm not sure I knew it was an HTC phone.
  • Reply 10 of 113
    jragostajragosta Posts: 10,473member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by dav View Post


    Samsung: "The Apple for the rest of us"



    Samsung: "The Apple for the people without taste"
  • Reply 11 of 113
    jz1492jz1492 Posts: 41member
    Beleaguered Motorola and HTC were first with Android, yet Samsung is the one soaring in the marketplace without a commensurate marketing effort.



    Which goes a long way to prove that the more they copy Apple, the better their chances of prevailing --until they lose in court, that is.



    If Apple's legal team are using this as proof to estimate damages, Samsung could end up having to pay Apple a googol dollars.
  • Reply 12 of 113
    c4rlobc4rlob Posts: 277member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Iceltic View Post


    So the moral of the story; if you want to win copy Apple.

    But I am sure some one will spin it in a different way.



    I'm glad that Apple aggressively sued Samsung because otherwise that's precisely the lesson companies would walk away with. At least now they have to consider the financial burden in legal settlements for resorting to copy-catting. How much of those profits will Samsung have to pour back into settlements awarded to Apple?
  • Reply 13 of 113
    agramonteagramonte Posts: 345member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by jragosta View Post


    Samsung: "The Apple for the people without taste"



    "iOS for for the apple community without talent"



    so the claim of "having taste" is irrelevant... 200 dollars does not buy you "taste"
  • Reply 14 of 113
    rcoleman1rcoleman1 Posts: 153member
    Another casualty of Android and Windows. R.I.P. HTC:-(
  • Reply 15 of 113
    Their brand has no visibility, no presence.

    Their phones look like "generic Android phones."

    Their branding is a mess: Radar? Vivid? ReZound? You've got to be kidding me. If the average consumer (read: not hard core Fandroid) cannot explain the difference between these phones and their competitors, then HTC will continue to fail.
  • Reply 16 of 113
    I hesitate to voice my opinion since it will probably be met with scorn but their latest device (HTC One X) has a hardware design I'd like Apple to take some note of. I love the large thin form-factor and weight, and I've always felt HTC's phones took the best photos in all kinds of lighting circumstances.



    And yes - I am an Apple zeolet with only Macs, Ipads, and Iphones littered throughout my house.



    I just feel Apple needs to make a marked change to their next Iphone's form-factor. 4G LTE to me is a feature I could care less about.
  • Reply 17 of 113
    drblankdrblank Posts: 3,385member
    When you base your product on an Operating System that is FREE, then you are basing your business on a worthless Operating System because you didn't pay for it. Some things in life that are free end up being worthless. There is a difference between charging a reasonable amount of money, being gouged, to being hoodwinked into a worthless product. Oh well, you can lead them to water, but you can't make em drink it until they get thirsty enough.
  • Reply 18 of 113
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by dav View Post


    Samsung: "The Apple for the rest of us"



    Samsung: "The Apple for the rest of you"



    There fixed it for you.
  • Reply 19 of 113
    drblankdrblank Posts: 3,385member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by ijordan View Post


    Good. These phone makers that do nothing but throw some open-source software on some cheap plastic and provide minuscule support for them need to go away.



    Well, they are using a worthless (free) operating system. That worthless operating system makes their product worthless. hahahaha. I would rather pay a little more and get something that works or provides me with higher level of satisfaction.
  • Reply 20 of 113
    postulantpostulant Posts: 1,272member
    HTC Radar...
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