HTC Profits Drop 26%, Cites Apple’s Heavy Competition

Today HTC has reported a 26% drop in its fourth quarter profits. They went onto express the fear of that number growing to 36% by the end of 2012’s first quarter.

The company had visions of a brighter future as they will announce new products at Barcelona’s upcoming Mobile World Congress later this month, however this appears to not be the case.

CFO Winston Yung told analysts “Our weakness in first-quarter guidance […] comes from facing competition in the U.S. from iPhone and Samsung.” Samsung is currently the number one smartphone manufacturer in the world, but Apple, the 3rd largest, is gaining ground quickly…

Apple made quite the jump in mobile phones last quarter albeit smart or non-smart handsets. The iPhone captured 75% of worldwide profits in the mobile phone space, with only a  8.7% market share, leaving very little for the taking for companies like HTC.

With excitement growing towards Apple’s usual spring and summer events, it looks as if they will keep on this successfully track for quite some time.

[Image Washington Post]