HTC

It appears any optimism at HTC in the wake of its profitable second quarter could be short-lived. The company has just reported its unaudited monthly revenue figures for July 2014, showing a sharp decline compared to the previous month, and the same period in 2013. In July the Taiwanese phone maker brought in NT $10.605 billion ($354 million), down from NT$21.917 billion in June, and NT$15.728 billion in July 2013 — a fall of 51.61 percent month-on-month and 32.58% year-on-year. The figures likely represent a tailing-off of sales of the company's flagship HTC One M8 handset, which launched in late March before becoming more broadly available in April.

HTC estimates revenue of between NT$42 billion and NT$47 billion in the third quarter, leaving the company with a lot of ground to make up in August and September if it's to hit that target. The news follows the recent departure of two high-level HTC executives — CMO Benjamin Ho and operations head Fred Liu.

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Later this month HTC is expected to launch a Windows Phone version of its flagship One M8, with the phone likely to hit Verizon in the U.S. shortly after announcement. Elsewhere, HTC continues to push mid-range and entry-level products like the Desire 816 and Desire 610.

As for the remainder of the year, sources tell AC that HTC will also launch a new Nexus tablet in collaboration with Google, as well as its own smartwatch — however neither is likely to arrive in time to make a difference to the company's Q3 earnings. In the meantime, perhaps HTC can take solace from the fact that arch-rival Samsung's profits are also down.