HTC Had Its Biggest Drop In Sales In More Than Two Years (bgr.com)

HTC has been struggling to stay competitive for years now with its Android handsets and virtual-reality headsets, and it still can't seem to get any relief. As BGR reports, the latest ominous headline points to a nearly 68-percent sales slump in June, marking HTC's worst results in more than two years. From the report: Even beyond all that, the company has had a tough go of it lately. There have been a few rounds off layoffs this year alone, the most recent being the company's culling of 1,500 workers from its Taiwan manufacturing division. After HTC president of smartphone and connected devices Chialin Chang resigned in February, the company also gave pink slips to several U.S. workers in the wake of combining its smartphone and VR units. Those 1,500 workers being axed, it also should be noted, comprise almost a quarter of the company's worldwide workforce.

Reuters on Friday quoted an unnamed analyst at market research firm Trendforce who puts the blame for some of this at HTC's feet partly as a result of unexciting products. "In the high-end segment, the sales of their flagship phone this year has been lower than expected, leading to lower market share," the analyst notes. "As for HTC's middle-end and entry-level series, the new models feature neither new specs nor high performance-price ratio, influencing the sales."

Comments

Re:Then release a phone people want

[williamyf]

Very few people want that. Focusing on them over the wide audience is how you go bankrupt.

Sad but true.

Luckyo, I think you are wrong, and maybe xack is into something. Is true that the wider audience does not want the thicker not shinny phone combo, but with a 68% sales slump, maybe the (diminished*) HTC phone division may be better financially by forgeting about blockbuster Flagship Uber-Phones that appeal to the wide market, and focus on a niche instead.

Look at Blackberry Mobile (a completely different company from Blackberry propper) focusing on the Keyboard phone niche, or bullit (a british company licensing the CAT brand) focusing on HyperRugged phones. Maybe HTC could be the king of DualSim+MicroSD card at the same time + 3.5mm Jack + Remomable battery + 36 hour battery time niche. It will not restore their former smartphone glory, but at least, the phone division will not bleed cash.

Food for tought.

* Diminished because many of the top smartphone engineering talent went to Google a little while ago.