HTC shipments hit 13.2 million peak in Q3 2011, up 93% yoy

On the back of the firm's declaration of a 79 percent rise in revenue – coming in at 135.8 billion TWD (around $4.4 billion) in Q3 2011 – Taiwanese manufacturer has detailed a similar hefty jump when it comes to smartphone shipments.

Throughout the quarter, HTC pushed out a total of 13.2 million units to retail across the globe.

That represents a rise of 93 percent on the figures posted during the same period in 2010.

It particularly pointed to sales of the HTC Wildfire, which is labelled "the most iconic entry-level smartphone in the market".

This is the highest shipment figure the company has posted to date, though doesn't yet compete with the 17.03 million units Apple shipped during its most recent quarter, or the 20+ million smartphones from Samsung.

In comparison, Nokia shipped 16.8 million smartphones during its past quarter.

However, it's slightly down on the 13.5 million units the firm predicted it would ship in Q3.

In total, HTC has shipped 35 million units throughout the first three quarters in 2011 – up 125 percent from the same period in 2010.

In terms of the average price per device sold, HTC claims Q3 saw a 0.6 percent year-on-year rise to $344 per device, although the per quarter trend continues down.

The company's gross margin was down slightly to 28 percent, while operating margin also fell to 14.9 percent.

Looking forward to Q4 2011, HTC expects continued growth, with quarterly revenue of between TWD 125-135 billion (around $4.1 - 4.4 billion), up 20-30 percent year on year.

Shipments will drop from Q3's high to between 12 and 13 million units – though either figure will still represent a 30 percent or more jump from the same period in 2010.

The company ended the quarter with cash of 105.8 billion TWD (around $3.5 billion).

[source: HTC (PDF)]