Taiwanese smartphone manufacturer HTC Corp (宏達電) yesterday said sales increased last month from October, but were still lower than a year ago, while expecting the launch of new low-end models to help its sales recovery.
Consolidated revenue reached NT$21.23 billion (US$730 million) last month, up 23.36 percent from NT$17.21 billion in October, the Taoyuan-based firm said in a filing to the Taiwan Stock Exchange after the market closed.
However, last month’s figure, however, represented a 31.39 percent decline compared to the NT$30.92 billion recorded for the same period of last year, the filing showed.
In the first 11 months of the year, accumulated revenue was NT$267.5 billion, down 39.14 percent from NT$439.43 billion a year earlier.
HTC did not elaborate on its latest sales results, but analysts attributed the monthly increase to substantial growth in low-end smartphones in emerging markets.
The resolving of prolonged patent disputes between HTC and Apple Inc also boosted US carriers’ confidence in the company, lifting sales of its high-end smartphones in the US market, they added.
“We think there is a high likelihood that HTC will achieve double-digit sales growth this month and reach its target sales of NT$60 billion for this quarter, driven by increasing demand for low-end smartphone products, such as the HTC T528 series in China, and high-end models like the HTC Droid DNA in the United States” Fubon Securities Co (富邦證券) analyst Jeff Pu (蒲得宇) said by telephone yesterday.
Pu said HTC’s sales of NT$21.23 billion last month were 7.7 percent lower than Fubon’s estimate of NT$23 billion, and he attributed the results to the shortage of components and supplies of its Windows Phone 8X in the US and T528 series smartphones in China.
In a report released on Thursday last week, Fubon said HTC’s settlement with Apple has opened up a window to regain its share of the US market.
HTC and Apple announced a 10-year deal on Nov. 11, ending all patent-infringement lawsuits between the two. The Taiwanese firm will make royalty payments to Apple on a quarterly basis, Bloomberg reported yesterday, citing an agreement filed in a US court.
In addition, HTC is fixing its marketing strategy by rebuilding its team and by allocating more resources for promotional activities to spur sales, Fubon said in the report, while raising its target share on the stock to NT$310.
HTC shares closed at NT$277 in Taipei trading, down 2.12 percent from the previous session.
HTC yesterday launched the new One SV low-end Android-powered smartphone to boost year-end sales.
Jack Tong (董俊良), president at HTC’s Northern Asia office, said the company hoped the new model could sustain sales momentum for the popular HTC J smartphone through January next year.
Unlike most of HTC’s low-end models, the One SV has a dual-core processor and is equipped with a 4.3-inch high-definition screen that has damage-resistance glass, a 500-mega pixel rear camera that enables users to take pictures while filming and a Beats audio sound system.
HTC said One SV will hit the market on Dec. 15, with a price tag of NT$11,900 without a contract, while users could pay a monthly subscription fee of NT$898 to own the smartphone at a minimum cost for the handset of NT$1,990 under a two-year contract with Taiwan Mobile Co (台灣大哥大).
“The company has adopted the right strategy of developing not only high-end, but low-cost smartphones that have high price-performance ratio to increase market penetration, but HTC needs to increase sales volume of its low-end models if it wants to grab market share back from rivals,” Pu said.
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