Stefan Mileschin

Mobile phone maker HTC has seen its profit fall 91 percent in the fourth quarter of 2012.

According to the IB Times, the company posted a net profit of £22 million for the three months to the end of December. Last year it made £242 million in the same quarter last year.

It is fairly clear that the result was expected. CEO Peter Chou told the Wall Street Journal in January that the company's competition is too strong and resourceful.

Samsung and Apple had been pouring in lots of money into marketing, and HTC hadn't.

However, he did say that he thought "2013 will not be too bad".

Analysts suggest that HTC has hit its low point and unless there is a disaster, like the company's flagship M7 sales disappointing, HTC should pick itself off the ground and dust itself off.

HTC is expected to announce the M7 on 19 February. Apparently a launch venue in London has been booked.

The M7 smartphone is thought to feature a 4.7 or 5in full-HD screen, a 1.7GHz quad-core processor and a 13-megapixel camera.

If the phone is not launched on 19 February, then it will almost certainly be seen at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

Launching early will give HTC the chance to steal the march on Samsung which is expected to unveil the next model in the Galaxy range this April.

http://news.techeye.net/mobile/htc-profits-tank