HTC revenues plunge by half, hitting three-year low

HTC's monthly sales plunged in February, hitting their lowest levels since February 2010.

The Taiwanese handset maker's revenues for last month were NT$11.3bn ($383m), down 44 per cent on the NT$20.3bn it posted in February 2012. 

It's a similar picture to the company's recent fourth quarter results: HTC's revenues for the period were NT$60 billion, down from NT$101bn the year before. HTC warned last month that revenues for the first quarter of this year could be lower still, at NT$$50bn.

The company enters 2013 with hopes pinned on its new flagship device, the latest HTC One model, which has been met with positive reviews, including winning "best new handset" at last week's Mobile World Congress awards.

That smartphone, which is yet to ship, may offer some hope for the company, but reviewers similarly praised earlier models of the HTC One, released last year. The HTC One family appeared to have little impact on revenues for 2012, with HTC consistently posting year on year monthly revenue declines, between 16 and 60 percent.

HTC's Windows Phone line up also includes the 8X — one of a handful of new devices from manufacturers including Nokia, Samsung and Huawei running the OS — but it seems the company may need something more immediate than Microsoft's platform can offer. Market research firm Kantar noted last month the 8X had made inroads into the UK market recently, with the device now the third-placed Windows Phone handset. While that's some progress, it remains a fairly small fish in a pond far smaller than either Android's or iOS'.

There may be better prospects for the company in the mid-range. HTC's cheaper Desire V series (which runs on Android) helped HTC grow its shipments dramatically in China — the territory that many mobile makers are pinning their hopes for the future on — last year for example, where it outperformed all international rivals according to figures from analyst firm Canalys. However, it wasn't enough to offset the declines in revenues HTC posted throughout 2012.

Competition amongst local manufacturers remains fierce in China, where ZTE, Lenovo and Huawei all trail Samsung, according to Canalys.