HTC Says Expects Q4 Revenue to Grow Up to 12 Percent

Taiwan's smartphone maker HTC said Friday it expected revenue in the fourth quarter to grow up to 12 percent on-quarter because it is launching a number of new products including the Nexus 9 tablet for Google.

HTC estimated that revenue in the fourth quarter will be in the range of TWD 43 billion-TWD 47 billion ($1.43 billion-$1.57 billion) (roughly Rs. 8,700 crores - Rs. 9,600 crores).

In October, HTC kicked off the global launch for an array of new products and services, including the HTC Desire Eye smartphone, the social video-editing application Zoe and its first-ever camera RE.

In the same month, HTC partnered with Google to unveil the Nexus 9 tablet dubbed "Lollipop" - the world's first tablet to run on Google's latest operating system Android 5.

The company is actively searching for new ways to appeal to customers and find fresh revenue streams with the launch of new products, it said in a statement.

HTC swung to a profit of TWD 640 million in the third quarter from a net loss of TWD 2.97 billion in the same period last year, but revenue fell 11 percent on-year amid strong competition from low-priced Chinese models.

"This challenging quarter saw HTC step up to the plate, maintaining profitability in the face of an intensely competitive environment," said CEO Peter Chou.

Analysts have warned that HTC had a long way to go before regaining lost ground to rivals Samsung and Apple as well as low-cost Chinese rivals such as Lenovo and Huawei.

In the 2013 third quarter, HTC swung to its first net loss since listing in 2002, as it fell out of the world's top 10 vendors and has been struggling to increase its foothold in the highly competitive smartphone market.