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Things continue to look grim for HTC.
The handset maker reported that its sales in February fell 44 percent to 11.3 billion New Taiwan dollars (US$380.4 million) from a year ago, the lowest level in three years. On a month-over-month basis, sales had fallen 27 percent.
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HTC is hoping the company has hit bottom. The new One flagship smartphone is poised to hit markets toward the end of this month, which should revive some of its results. In addition, the first quarter is typically a tough one for handset vendors, many of which come off a strong fourth quarter.
Unfortunately, HTC didn’t have a strong fourth quarter, and its January was hardly encouraging. The results underscore the difficulties that the onetime high-flyer has had in the smartphone business, as it continues to be squeezed by larger rivals Apple and Samsung Electronics.
HTC got ahead of the craziness of last week’s Mobile World Congress by unveiling the One smartphone at its own global event the week before. While the company won critical praise for the design of the phone, as well as its willingness to break from the traditional grid of icons, it’s unclear how consumers will react to the phone, particularly as many await Samsung’s own announcement of the Galaxy S4, slated for next week.
In January, HTC saw sales fall 6.5 percent to 15.5 billion New Taiwan dollars (US$521.8 million) from the year-earlier period.
Correction 6:32 a.m. PT: This story originally gave incorrect figures for HTC’s revenues. In February, HTC recorded revenue of 11.3 billion New Taiwan dollars (US$380.4 million), and in January it recorded revenue of 15.5 billion NT dollars (US$521.8 million).
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