U.S. Customs delay takes its toll – HTC cuts Q2 sales target by 13.3 percent

HTC can’t seem to catch a break these days. Back in April, HTC expected second quarter revenues to reach T$105 billion ($3.56 billion), beating analysts’ expectations by 3.5 percent. Unfortunately, slower than expected sales in Europe and the U.S. market has forced HTC to revise its earnings estimate for the second quarter, knocking down its projections to T$91 billion ($3.03 billion) – 13.3 percent lower than its previous sales target. HTC also revealed that consolidated sales for May were T$30 billion, down 26.13 percent from the previous year.

While HTC is not pointing fingers at anyone, we have a feeling that the U.S. Customs inspections of the HTC One X and HTC EVO 4G LTE played a big role in HTC’s reduced sales target for the second quarter. Shipments of both devices were stuck in customs for nearly three weeks while the handsets were inspected for patent violations, delaying the launch of the EVO 4G LTE and completely depleting AT&T’s stock of the HTC One X.

With the launch of the Samsung Galaxy S III, we’re not really sure how HTC’s will fair over the summer months. Samsung has delivered an impressive device which seems to be well accepted by the public. HTC’s new Playstation Suite certification may help them get back into the game, but it all depends on when HTC and SONY roll out the new feature to HTC devices.

Source: Reuters