HTC is looking beyond smartphones to grow its business as the company reports slim profit margins in its latest quarterly earnings. The Taiwanese firm announced profits of $15.9 million from revenues of $1.5 billion in the quarter ending December 31st, 2014, with CEO Peter Chou describing it as a "solid platform" on which to continue building a new range of "mobile lifestyle" products. So far, this strategy has produced only the Re camera — a well-designed, but underperforming action cam — but HTC is promising much more, including "a line of connected health and fitness-related devices" made in collaboration with Under Armour.

As well as gadgets, HTC promises "utopia in progress" for its next flagship smartphone

When, exactly, these devices might be launched is an open question, but this latest earnings report is still good news. HTC is now on its third consecutive profitable quarter, and its revenue is up 12 percent year on year. It's a far cry from the heady days of 2011 when HTC was the leading smartphone brand in the US, but investors will probably be pleased just to see any profit at all. The company has been dealing with long-term upheaval in high-ranking personnel for years now, and it's still adapting to the threat from Chinese smartphone vendors like Xiaomi. Nevertheless, HTC appears confident about its future and is even promising to deliver "utopia in progress" with the launch of its next flagship smartphone on March 1st.