HTC ships record 12.1 million units in Q2

Motorola should move over as it has been bested by HTC, which sold a record 12.1 million handset units during the second quarter.

As seen in the graph below, that figure is up by a whopping 124 percent year-over-year. HTC accredits the major success to its entry-level (and cheaper) ChaCha and Wildfire S smartphones. On the higher end of the spectrum, HTC cited the Sensation, the Evo 3D and the Thunderbolt for continuing "to drive mobile broadband to 4G speed"

There were also a slew of other mobile devices that made their market debuts during Q2, such as the Salsa and 7-inch Flyer tablets.

Morgan Stanley was impressed by HTC's "robust" growth within Asia (especially with China's pre-paid markets) as well as steady growth across the United States and Europe. Analysts even predict that HTC's market share in Asia to grow by 200 percent year-over-year with "quadruple growth in China."

HTC itself cited China as its "standout market" for brand development, noting that "brand awareness, preference, and ownership all increased 10% showing very strong conversion through the brand funnel."

However, analysts were still cautious because of "vague answers to all litigation issues," and they warn about volume growth decelerating over the next two quarters. The most notable legal problem for HTC right now has to deal with Apple over more patent infringement disputes. During Q2, HTC picked up 235 issued patents and patent applications from S3 Graphics for $300 million.

Despite some doubts, HTC expects to ship approximately 13.5 million units in the third quarter, which would be up 98 percent year-over-year.

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