Even if you hadn’t blinked, you would have missed the news: HTC’s delayed rival to the iPhone 5 will soon reach US stores. While Samsung or Apple launches are front-page stories – Samsung’s Galaxy SIII launched this week in Europe to fanfare – HTC, number three, is barely mentioned. Is there value in being the phone-making equivalent of tennis’ Andy Murray when you’re playing against Rafa Nadal and Novak Djokovic?

HTC’s sales have halved in the past six months. The phones now heading to the US (the customs review that held them up was part of an Apple patent lawsuit) are crucial to its comeback. The good news is that HTC is loved by its users: 58 per cent are very satisfied, according to a recent poll by Bernstein analysts and 65 per cent plan to buy another. That is in line with Samsung, at 62 and 61 per cent. Apple scores more than four-fifths on both counts.

The problem is where HTC goes next. Its phones are high-end while new growth in handset sales will come from low-priced models for emerging markets. Samsung (27 per cent of high-end and 38 per cent of mid- and low-end, according to Barclays) can straddle different price points while Apple (45 and 3) can enjoy the view from the top. That leaves HTC (8 and 5) in a tricky position. Investors know it: its shares are down 62 per cent in 12 months, a 100 per cent underperformance to Samsung and more to Apple.