HTC saw steep declines in both sales and
profits during the first quarter as it continues to lose market share to
smartphone rivals Apple and Samsung. 

The Taiwanese handset maker released
unaudited financial results today showing its first-quarter sales dropped
nearly 35 percent over last year to $2.3 billion. Profits dived 70 percent to
about $151 million. 

The company didn’t elaborate on its
slumping financials but had warned investors it expected to have a weak first
quarter. HTC has been ceding ground to other handset manufacturers in recent
months, a reversal of fortune from its former success with the Android
platform.

IDC reported that HTC lost market share
to Apple and Samsung during the last three months of 2011. Even though HTC
posted an increase in shipment volumes, its overall share of the global handset
market dropped two percentage points to just 6.5 percent, a position dwarfed by
Apple and Samsung’s combined market share of 46.3 percent. 

ComScore recently reported that HTC had
made some gains in the key U.S. market but still lags behind its larger
competitors. Its share of the U.S. smartphone market inched up four-tenths of a
percentage point to 6.3 percent between December of last year and the end of
February. 

Samsung and its Android-based Galaxy
devices held 25.6 percent of the market during the same period, with Apple’s
ever-popular iPhone holding 13.5 percent.

HTC is staking its turnaround efforts on
its One series of smartphones released at Mobile World Congress. The three
smartphones run the latest version of Android and feature an updated user
interface. 

T-Mobile USA will be the country’s first
operator to carry a device from the line, the HTC One S. The phone will launch
sometime this spring, but specific availability and pricing have yet to be
announced. 

Yesterday, Sprint announced HTC would
provide the Evo 4G LTE.