Instead of reaping the rewards of putting out a lovely new flagship, HTC has just reported its lowest ever profit — a mere $2.8 million in unaudited net income — during the first three months of this year. That compares to $173 million in the same quarter of last year, representing a pretty catastrophic fall of around 98 percent. Underlying revenue dropped by a third to $1.4 billion. The reason? The top-end smartphone on which the company’s fortunes currently rest, the HTC One, mostly missed its scheduled global arrival date in March due to manufacturing delays, so it effectively didn’t exist during the period in question. It has only just become available to pre-order in the US and won’t start shipping to customers until April 19th. At this rate, the HTC First — the manufacturer’s second big announcement of the year — might actually deserve its name.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile
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Source: Bloomberg, HTC