HTC Profit Falls 83% Despite Flagship One

HTC-One-silver-back

HTC has today announced its unaudited financial results for the second quarter of 2013, and despite help from the widely-praised HTC One, they do not look good. The Taiwanese firm made just NT$1.25 billion ($41 million) after tax from NT$70.7 billion ($2.35 billion) revenue, which is a staggering 83% fall from the same quarter last year.

In comparison, HTC made NT$7.4 billion ($246 million) after tax from NT$91.04 billion ($3 billion) this time last year.

HTC pinned a lot of hope on the flagship One this year, and it almost went the extra mile to ensure the device had the best possible chance against the latest offerings from Apple and Samsung. In addition to a premium aluminum build and high-end specifications, it even added dual front-facing BoomSound speakers, and an UltraPixel camera — things you won’t find anywhere else.

And the One has received plenty of acclaim since its release, with many calling it the best Android-powered smartphone available today. But despite all that, it hasn’t been able to help HTC turn its fortunes around. At least not yet.

Analysts expected the company to do much better this quarter, with profits of around $70 million — especially after HTC had announced that 5 million Ones were sold in just 50 days. It also did relatively well in May, which was the first full month of One availability.

But June saw the release of the Samsung Galaxy S4, the One’s biggest competitor, and HTC’s revenue took a big hit, dropping around 24%.

The good news for HTC is that even while it’s struggling, it is still posting a profit — even if that profit is falling.