Telecom Lead Asia: Smartphone maker HTC will shift its focus more towards emerging markets and offer lower priced phones in China this year.
Both Nokia and Apple are focusing more on China to increase market share.
HTC’s strategy shift is mainly due to dip in revenue because of Apple’s iPhone and Samsung’s Galaxy series.
Apple’s revenue from the region jumped to $7.3 billion in the December quarter, up 60 percent from a year earlier.
Smartphone sales powered 89 percent increase in operating profit for Samsung in the October-December quarter to a record $8.3 billion.
HTC’s first-quarter revenue is likely to be flat to 17 percent lower than in the previous three months.
HTC CFO Chang Chia-Lin said it tended to rely on developed markets for most of its revenue. It is now ready to offer smartphones priced less than 1,999 yuan – currently its cheapest phone in China.
Chang said HTC would also more closely target emerging markets overall this year. It expanded its reach to Myanmar last month by introducing local-font phones.
HTC said it expects first-quarter revenue of T$50 billion to T$60 billion against T$60 billion in the fourth quarter and T$65.75 billion a year ago.
HTC expects a first-quarter gross margin of about 21 to 23 percent, flat to lower from 23 percent in the prior quarter, and an operating margin of 0.5 to 1.0 percent, also flat to lower from 1 percent.
According to IDC, Huawei is now ranked third among smartphone vendors with 10.8 million units shipped last quarter, marking the first time it has ever cracked the top five. ZTE dropped one spot to number five, on the strength of 9.5 million quarterly shipments. Their rise has displaced both LG and HTC, which have seen their shares gradually decline in recent quarters.
Samsung led IDC’s rankings with 63.7 million Q4 shipments last year and with 29 percent market share. Over the year, the company’s share has increased by 76 percent. Apple, meanwhile, saw its share jump by 29.2 percent over the year with 47.8 million shipments and a 21.8 percent market share — nearly 17 percent higher than third-ranked Huawei.
