Taiwan’s HTC second quarter profit falls 58%

A model displays HTC One X during a press conference in Taipei, Taiwan, Sunday, March 26, 2012. HTC Corp. is marketing the new smartphone that can take four digital photos per second, a model the Taiwan maker hopes can help reverse its falling revenue amid keener competition. AP PHOTO/CHIANG YING-YING

TAIPEI—Taiwan’s top smartphone maker HTC said Friday net profit in the three months to June fell 58 percent from a year earlier due to slowing global demand.

Net profit in the second quarter came in at Tw$7.4 billion ($247 million), compared with Tw$17.52 billion a year ago but up from Tw$4.46 billion in the 2012 first quarter, the company said.

Revenue in the period fell 27 percent to Tw$91.0 billion year-on-year, lower than the company’s forecast of Tw$105.0 billion although it was an increase of 34 percent from the first quarter.

HTC sells its own smartphones and also makes handsets for a number of leading US companies, including supplying Google’s Nexus One.

The company has recently unveiled a new series of smartphones as it faces stiff competition with US technology giant Apple and South Korea’s Samsung.

Read more...