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HTC Profits Drop By 79%

Posted by Soulskill on from the fading-fast dept.

An anonymous reader writes "HTC is the world's fifth largest phone maker, but it's starting to feel some serious pressure from giants like Samsung and Apple. HTC's third quarter net income dropped 79% from the previous quarter, and total revenues were down 48%. 'Sales of HTC's flagship One series, which debuted in February, are trailing off as Apple and Samsung spend four to six times more on marketing to ensure the iPhone 5 and the Galaxy SIII dominate the market, while strongly subsidizing their older models ... HTC's share of the global smartphone market by shipments fell to 5.8% in the second quarter from 10.7% a year earlier, according to Bloomberg. The company released its first Windows Phone 8 models in September, its most high-profile pre-Christmas launch, but Microsoft's operating system has yet to establish itself as a serious third player after Google's Android and Apple's iOS.'"

4 of 209 comments (clear)

  1. Re:GOOD !! THEY BREAK UN SANCTIONS !! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I have trouble faulting a company from Taiwan for disregarding the UN, as the UN insists on disregarding Taiwan.

  2. It's because they removed the SD Card by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The HTC Vivid was the last AT&T phone that had a MicroSD slot. The One X variants and subsequent models do not.

    Of course, the carriers hate SD slots, because they would rather you eat up all of your data accessing your stuff in the "cloud." Google is also all-to-happy to remove the SD slot for the same reason, because they want to access your data, too, and it's easier for them if you're storing it on their hard drives.

    I absolutely will not buy a phone or tablet that does not have an SD slot. If they all stop offering them, I'll just keep limping along on my Inspire until it dies, and then I'll go get a prepaid dumb phone.

    Smart phones are fun toys, but they are useless unless I can store my music and videos directly on them.

    1. Re:It's because they removed the SD Card by MrDoh! · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Why I loved the HTC Nexus One.
      No stupid skins, just pure Android.
      Fast
      Zero bloatware
      Updates
      SD-Card
      Easily unlockable bootloader
      Awesome build quality
      Replaceable batteries
      Beautiful screen.
      .
      .
      Reasons I dislike the new HTC phones
      Terrible skins
      slow (odd stutters, I think related to the skins/bloatware)
      Slow updates (and CM appearing to have issues as the drivers/specs hard to get hold of)
      Lack of SD-Cards (I get it, MS want's their cut, but what's the price? If it's 5bucks a device, I'm happy to pay that extra)
      Locked bootloaders
      Build quality falling. Pic up a HTC One S/X and on first glance it looks good, but tolerances appear to have slipped, just... not as good milling for the metal.
      Non-replaceable batteries.
      .
      .
      Screens are still good though, the contrast is great. The Camera was great quality too (though not THE most important item on a phone). .
      .
      HTC, look, you're stepping away from why your phones were so beloved at the time. You're letting 'idiot marketing/execs' get in the way of /really/ listening to your customers who know what they like and WANT to use your phones, but are being put off by terrible decisions. Seriously, everything we liked about your phones in the first place, you've got rid of. Who's brainwave WAS this to get rid of everything that made your phones so good?

      --
      Waiting for an amusing sig.
  3. This is unfortunate by AbRASiON · · Score: 5, Interesting

    HTC make the second best Android phones behind Samsung. If Samsung turn evil or make stupid decisions I don't agree with, I like having HTC there as a backup. I owned a HTC HD2 (no it's not a native Android phone) but the build quality, for the time was fairly good and HTC Sense really isn't that bad. (Then again, I don't hate touchwiz either)

    I hear Sony's Android phones aren't shabby but I have a hard time believing a juggernaught like Sony would release timely products or updates. Also LG and Motorola both "not bad" but HTC is definitely, in my eyes #2 - it'd be a shame to see them completely slayed.

    I don't follow them too closely but I believe they were continuing to focus on Microsoft based phones which seems, completely foolhardy to me - the sales numbers on those things would be quite miniscule, fingers crossed they remain competitive. (The HTC One X does have a glorious screen, but the lack of removable battery or SD card slot is a no no, the actual design however - for the most part is quite nice looking like the S3)