HTC profits soar in Q1, number of phones shipped triples

HTC is riding the Android wave all the way to record sales and profit for Q1 of 2011. Year over year, profit (after tax) and the number of units shipped nearly tripled. Even HTC themselves were a little surprised by how well they did.

HTC is working on improving its brand recognition and it’s ahead of schedule – phase II is completed one year ahead of schedule no less and they’re moving on to phase III. HTC didn’t let on what phase III might entail, but we guess we'll find out soon.

So, what does this brand recognition mean in numbers? 9.7 million HTC smartphones were sold in Q1 of 2011, 192% increase year-over-year (YoY) and 6% quarter-on-quarter (QoQ).

This pushed quarterly revenue to record highs of $3.6 billion (Note: those are US dollars). That’s up 174.5% YoY and it’s also the fourth consecutive quarter of growth. Net profit for the quarter was $517 million, nearly triple that of the year-ago quarter.

A few more numbers to highlight HTC’s improving performance – the average selling price of an HTC smartphone was $359 (up 6% YoY) and operating margin reached 15.8%.

HTC is strengthening their position by buying 82 issued patents and 14 patent applications to add to its wireless portfolio and giving marketing, operation and R&D by hiring 1,000 people.

Here’s how the future looks like according to HTC's Q2 predictions. Shipments in Q2 of 2011 are expected to reach 11-11.5 million units (double compared to last year’s Q2) and revenue to reach $4.2 billion. Operating margin should be around 15.5% (give or take half a percent).

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