HTC's Profit Down 91.5% in Q1 2013; Samsung's Up By 53%
Q1 2013's financial figures brings more joy for Samsung and even more woe for HTC.
Not too long ago, HTC and Samsung could reasonably be considered to be Android's two heavyweights. Q1 2013's financial figures have made it obvious just how large the gap has become since then. While HTC's profits fell to just $2.85 million, a 91.5 percent drop from Q1 2012, Samsung estimates its operating profit to be $7.7 billion, a 53 percent increase from Q1 2012.
Though both companies will be releasing their respective flagship smartphones in April 2013, HTC has delayed the release of the One due to component shortages that have mostly been attributed to its "revolutionary new camera," a feature that Fudzilla remarked as being "apparently so revolutionary that it can't be built."
Fudzilla further commented that it seemed too late for HTC to rethink its marketing strategy and that the company "makes some brilliant phones, but it just can’t get its message across. Even if it gets its act together and boost marketing, it will never be able to match Samsung’s runaway marketing budget."
Samsung, on the other hand, is expected to see operating profits reach a new record high in Q2 2013. Because of its status as the world's largest supplier of memory chips and flat-panel TVs, Samsung doesn't foresee any major component shortages for the Galaxy S IV.
Had an "HTC Touch" back in the day, it was slow, crappy, couldn't play games, tiny screen, the touchscreen wore out, it didn't work in the cold. It was just a piece of shit. On top of that it had a chip that was capable of higher resolutions and better framerates, but through software they limited the chip so they could release another version with the chip unlocked. There was a petition to unlock the chip in the Touch but it never happened.
Ever since then I never went to HTC. Their phones may be good today, but this just goes to show that if you F up one product, you'll lose customers.
These are TW$ figures not US$ by the way.
I agree that HTC makes incredibly beautiful phones with the right price tag, but they don't know how to run a business. I guarantee once the HTC One hits the market, HTC won't be able to keep up with supply/demand. The aluminium body and shortage of components will definitely hinder them from printing out large volumes. Majority of consumers won't wait months in line from all the back orders and will go buy an Apple, S4, or the new Sony phone instead which will result in HTC losing thousands if not millions of potential customers.
Same boat - but I had the HTC hero. Biggest POS phone I ever owned. They lost me as a customer for ever.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=3dR5Khcf9xg
It's really sad because the HTC One is a great alternative to the Samsung Galaxy. The quality of the phone is class leading and giving Samsung some competition is good for customers.
hope htc picks up, time for some healthy competition
If their products were the best available, they would be selling. As it is, the Galaxy has a lot of word-of-mouth evangelists. Nobody wants to see another Evo that lags behind on Android version support, but talk of a phone that isn't available isn't "message", it's just hype.
Samsung is much more than a phone maker, although no doubt their phone division makes good money too.