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HTC To Stop Making Budget Android Phones This Year (neowin.net)
An anonymous reader shares a report: During HTC's quarterly earnings call for Q4 2016, the company confirmed that it will not be producing new budget Android phones beginning this year. Instead, the company will focus on premium devices, which have a higher profit margin. On revenue of NT $22.2bn, the firm posted an operating loss of NT $3.6bn, and it's been some time since HTC showed a profit. Clearly, it's time to trim some of the fat. And that fat is producing a number of entry-level phones, many of which are nearly identical. For example, the Desire 530, which came to the US in July, had virtually no distinction from the Desire 626, which was introduced a year before.
Since the vast majority of Android's oft-touted "superior marketshare" numbers is made up of these kinds of shitbox phones, if other OEMs follow suit, you'll soon see the real reason why the Android platform has so many phones in the wild, vs. Apple.
It is a pity HTC is late - there are already various players at the high end market too. If you are neither number one or two, then you should bail.
Maybe I am one of the few people who have had very good luck with their phones. My first HTC phone was a HTC Wizard over eleven years ago. It lasted four years, the battery lasted a week on standby, and its dual-core TI OMAP could easily be overclocked. At the time Windows Mobile applications were decent, although it requires a stylus.
I have bought a few HTC devices, and have been happy with them. All still work, and the only reason I set them aside was for an upgrade. For example, my el cheapo HTC A9 is still going strong, especially with CM/LineageOS.
The nice thing about HTC is that all their devices are unlockable, bootloader wise. Yes, if you want to SIM unlock, you might have to use the Sunshine S/OFF app, but $25 separating you from an unlocked device... that isn't too bad.
Feature-wise, I've not found anything HTC devices lack that other brands have. The camera has been decent, the phone responsive, the fingerprint scanner accurate... everyday things are well up to snuff. Since I always use a case for my phones, I'm not as worried about feel.
From a security point of view, the devices are made in Taiwan, not China, which may not mean much, but it makes the devices feel more trustworthy.
As for the market, maybe HTC should have another line for budget phones. HTC for the flagship lines, then have a different company or subsidiary to run head to head against Huawei, BLU, and other competitors in that field. HTC can curry favor with the prime telcos in countries, while the lower-end subsidary can focus on getting their devices into the Tescos, Poundlands, Family Dollar, and other stores.
Samsung manage it. If you look at the firmware that Samsung puts on the premium devices vs the low end, it's virtually identical. They've managed to increase their reach with a relatively minor additional effort. I suspect Samsung are also pretty glad that they have all those sales to sustain them when they suffer a flop such as their recent battery scandal.