HTC reports 68% surge in profits

Taiwan smartphone maker HTC said today that its third quarter earnings grew 68% from the same period last year, with shipments reaching 13 million handsets.

The company said net profit for the July-September quarter amounted to 18.7 billion new Taiwan dollars (€439m) on revenue of 136 billion new Taiwan dollars (€3.2bn), with Asia, particularly China, a key to growth.

HTC has grown on the strength of the design of its handsets, based on Google’s Android operating system.

It says its profile has been raised with the launch of two “Sensation” models equipped with high-end Beats headphones by US maker Dr Dre.

HTC expects fourth quarter shipments to be between 12 and 13 million. That would represent a 30% revenue increase on the same period in 2010.