According to reports from the Taiwain-based Market Intelligence Center, HTC is on pace to oust RIM as the world’s number four smartphone maker as early as the beginning of next year. Much of HTC’s success has to do with a string of popular Android handsets, which helped propel the company to record profits in its lastest quarter. RIM, on the other hand, has seen both profits and device sales drop off, and is struggling to keep consumers interested with its ageing portfolio. A recent report by Neilsen showed that sales of BlackBerry smartphones dropped dramatically from February to March, with Android and BlackBerry smartphones making up 27% and 6% of U.S. handset sales.

[via CENS]