Taiwan’s top smartphone maker HTC said Friday net profit in the first three months of the year plummeted 70 percent, to the lowest since 2006, owing to falling demand. Net profit in the first
quarter came in at Tw$
4.46 billion ($148 million),
compared with Tw$14.83
billion a year ago and Tw$
10.94 billion in the October-December
period, the company said. Revenue in the period fell
35 percent to Tw$67.79
billion year-on-year, it
said in a statement. The losses come as the global economy slows, with key markets in the United
States and Europe mainly
hit. HTC sells its own
smartphones and also
makes handsets for a
number of leading US
companies, including
Google’s Nexus One. The company has recently
unveiled a new series of
smartphones as it looks to
compete in the huge
market against Apple’s iPhone and Samsung Galaxy. “While HTC’s operation is
likely to turn around in the
second quarter with its
launch of new ‘One’ series
smartphones, there are
uncertainties over its shipment momentum from
the third quarter as
Samsung and Apple are
expected to launch new smartphones,” said Bonnie Chang, analyst at Yuanta
Securities.
Source:physorg.com
Tech News by Shariq Kazi 