HTC, which has been one of the biggest and, until now, most successful smartphone makers in the world, hit a speed bump in the fourth quarter of 2011. Reuters reports that the Taiwan-based company reported a drop of 25.5 percent in its net profits compared to the same time period a year ago. The results were below expectations from financial analysts.
HTC's full year was actually good with 2011's profits coming in at 57 percent higher than those in 2010. However, HTC did not go into any detail about why their fourth quarter 2011 profits took such a drop. HTC released a number of new smartphones for both the Android and Windows Phone operating systems in the time period.
While HTC declined to give their reasons for the profit drop, some are speculating that the launch of Apple's iPhone 4S might have cut into HTC's sales. The sales success of Samsung's smartphones such as the Galaxy S II might have also affected HTC's earnings for the quarter. HTC launched two new Windows Phone-based smartphones in the fourth quarter, the HTC Titan and the HTC Radar, along with a number of Android-based phones.
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