HTC to dramatically increase Android handset shipments

HTC looks to be seriously benefiting from Android’s skyrocketing popularity, with the Taiwanese firm set to increase its shipments of all handsets based on Google’s OS.
According to the Financial Times, HTC will increase shipments by close to 50% over the next three months, moving from 3.3 million handsets in the last quarter to 4.5 million, an astonishing number, boosted by the extraordinary growth shown by Google’s Android of late.
HTC’s chief financial officer Cheng Hui-Ming has already pinned credit for the shipment increases on partner, Google, saying the move reflected the burgeoning popularity of the Android platform in the United States as well as in Europe.
ODM HTC has benefited immensely from Google’s push into the Mobile market. The firm was the first manufacturer out of the gate with an Android handset, the HTC Dream aka T-Mobile G1 in 2008, and also manufactured Google’s own Nexus One phone.
In the first quarter of 2010, HTC’s revenues shot up 20% from $1bn last year to 1.21bn, while net profit increased slightly from $155.59 million to $159.74 million. The company expects second-quarter revenue to reach $1.60bn, which is quite a leap.
Both HTC and Android’s growth look set to continue to skyrocket for the foreseeable future, especially with upcoming launches of killer flagship phones like the HTC Incredible on Verizon, and HTC’s first 4G Wimax phone – the HTC Sprint EVO 4G.
These are exciting times indeed for HTC and the mobile industry as a whole.