HTC & Samsung miss expectations on Q2 earnings ahead of Apple’s financial call later this month

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhM-DuM2WgE

Apple’s two biggest competitors in the smartphone space have reported their initial Q2 earnings report and estimates today ahead of Apple’s fiscal Q3 financial results later this month. While Samsung, which holds the second place spot behind Apple as top smartphone vendor in the US, is estimating profits of around $8.33 billion for the quarter, it also missed estimates due to slowed growth of its smartphone sales. Despite the record number marking an increase of around $2 billion from its Q1 profit, Samsung falls just short of the 10.16 trillion won that analysts were expecting for the company thanks to slowed momentum in its smartphone division.

HTC, which sits at #3 smartphone vendor in the US with 9% of the market behind Apple and Samsung, has posted disappointing earnings for the quarter. 9to5Google reports HTC profits are down 83% year-over-year….not too surprising considering it’s been losing share of the smartphone market in the US since February. According to the report it’s also seeing sales of its flagship HTC One drop in June after strong May sales.

Oh, and the ad above… That’s Samsung’s latest mocking iPhone users. This time it’s a little more niche than its other ads that have aired in the US and abroad, but the new Icelandic ad makes it quite clear that Apple is the target. We’re not sure about the ninja symbology, but the tagline for the ad translates to “Get a phone that understands you” and the ad focuses on lack of Icelandic language support on the iPhone.

As a reminder, Apple reported earnings of $43.6b in revenue for Q2 2013 and just last week announced its Q3 financial results will be reported later this month on July 23rd.