TAIPEI, Feb 6 — Taiwanese smartphone maker HTC Corp said today it sees as much as 36 per cent drop in revenue in the first quarter from the previous three months, but said its difficulties were “short term”.

The company said in a statement that it expects its first-quarter revenue at between T$65 billion and T$70 billion (RM6.62-RM7.13 billion), compared to T$101.42 billion in the fourth quarter.

HTC also said it expects gross margin and operating margin at around 25 per cent and 7.5 per cent, respectively, down from 27.12 per cent and 12.71 per cent in the previous quarter.

It added that it expects margins to normalise when product transition is over.

“Despite short-term difficulties, momentum will resume in the upcoming product cycle driven by HTC’s brand strength, innovation, and design/engineering capabilities,” the company said in a statement.

HTC did not elaborate in its statement, but will give a briefing later in the day.

The world’s No.5 smartphone maker by shipment HTC Corp recorded a worse-than-expected yearly profit decline in the fourth quarter, and the first decline in two years, as its models scrambled to compete with Apple Inc’s iPhone and Samsung’s Galaxy range. — Reuters