HTC has seen its first sales growth in three years

The last few years haven’t exactly been easy for HTC, but the Taiwanese smartphone maker might finally be experiencing a turnaround. The company’s sales reach $1.5 billion in the fourth quarter of 2014, a significant improvement over what HTC reported a year prior, thus marking its first quarterly year-on-year revenue growth since 2011.

HTC Corp. posted its first quarterly revenue growth in more than three years as new mid-range handsets helped offset competition from high-end models such as Apple Inc.’s iPhone. Fourth-quarter sales climbed to NT$47.9 billion ($1.5 billion) from NT$42.9 billion a year earlier, HTC said today, the first gain since the third quarter of 2011. The Taoyuan, Taiwan-based company reported net income of about NT$470 million, beating the NT$212 million average of 14 analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg. HTC’s new tablet computer and phones aimed at developing markets helped stave off competition from the iPhone 6, a top-seller in the Christmas shopping period, and Chinese makers such as Xiaomi Corp. While quarterly sales rose, they cap a third full-year revenue decline after Chairwoman Cher Wang told shareholders in June that she’s confident about HTC’s future, and President Peter Chou said he saw an improvement from the second quarter of 2014.