HTC's profit growth skids to a halt in Q4 2011

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HTC released its Q4 2011 earnings today, and as the company predicted in its revised outlook published in November, this quarter saw the company's first profit decline in two years.

Revenues for the fourth quarter dropped 2.5 percent from last year, settling at 101.4 billion TWD (US$3.35 billion). More importantly, profits fell a staggering 26 percent from Q4 2010, dropping from 14.8 billion TWD (US$489.5 million) to 11 billion TWD (US$363.8 million). Shipments of smartphones and tablets fell to 10 million units this quarter, compared to the 13.2 million units shipped in Q3 2011.

HTC had warned back in November that its Q4 results would not be as good as it had originally predicted, and offered a revised outlook for investors. The company blames the overall weak global economy and stiff competition from competitors such as Apple and Samsung for the decline in performance. In Q3, HTC was large enough to be the number one smartphone manufacturer in the U.S. With the decline of sales in Q4, it could very well lose that title to Apple or Samsung. [via Bloomberg]