After posting lower than expected numbers for the month of April, a report from Taiwan’s handset supply chain suggests that HTC may soon cut back on its component orders for the HTC One M9 due to low global demand for its flagship phone. The HTC One M9 is impeccably designed and is one of the best smartphones of 2015, but many consumers see the One M9 as a replica of last year’s One M8 with a handful of tweaks to its internal components.
Slow sales of the HTC one M9 could also be attributed to HTC’s inability to pull together a cohesive marketing message to promote the phone. We’ve seen more than a dozen random promotional clips for the HTC One M9 on HTC’s YouTube channel, but none of them are as good as last year’s “ask the internet” campaign and we have yet to see a commercial for the HTC One M9 on TV. Yes, a good phone should sell itself, but HTC needs to invest some money in marketing to combat the constant bombardment that consumers get in the mainstream media from Samsung and Apple.
HTC was able to find stable ground in 2014, but 2015 will be another year where HTC loses additional market share to the competition. Since the HTC One M9 isn’t going to help HTC’s financial situation, the company may need to pull up the launch of the HTC One M10 into the second half of 2015 if it hopes to keep its current market share and remain profitable.
Source: DitiTimes
I am actually hoping they don’t bring the One M10 this year just because it could result in a very rushed device, that could end up not meeting HTC’s meticulous design and software feats. What I do hope they bring is the One Max 2, a phablet would very much help things and also help directly compete with the other phablets likely to be released in the second half of the year. It could also bring what people keep wanting in the US and Europe, which is a 2k screen and the fingerprint scanner like the One M9+.
They can’t come out with a real phablet ie. 5.5″ plus until they redesign the phone to reduce the bezel. Having a 5.2″ screen the size of a Note is silly. Especially when you stick a fingerprint scanner in the middle of the Boom speakers. They need the the Snap 820 and new fingerprint tech. that doesn’t require a button and works anywhere on the screen as well as a phone that looks closer to the mock ups that got everyone excited in the first place.
To be honest the evleaks render and the ones that followed are not that far off what the Sony Xperia z2/z4 look like in terms of the speaker grills placement, but even then there is quite a big bottom bezel on those devices because the display drivers have to go somewhere. HTC will have to pull their finger out soon and either risk making a phone that though has a new design is not as striking as the current One range, or refine it and risk more backlash. Definitely quite a difficult time and situation for them, but hopefully they have already worked something out.
The two comments by Kwadwo and neo are right on the money. The One Max 2, if done correctly, would resolve a huge chunk of HTC’s problems. It’s really not rocket science is it – just listen to what the consumers are saying. As neo says, the renders that everyone got excited about are not that difficult – HTC should be able to provide that phone. Get rid of the huge level of bezels, get a fingerprint scan in there. To be honest, the Butterfly that’s down for Japan is pretty close to the mark. Support for 200GB cards, 20.2 megapixel DuoCamera supporting 4k video capture, 3GB of RAM all wrapped up in water proof and dust proof body. Make it a 5.5 inch, fingerprint scanner with the same appearance as the renders for the M9+ and HTC would have about the most popular phone on the market.
Again, I’ve said this before – HTC are so close but they consistently seem to just miss on what the market wants. It almost feels like they’re going to stubbornly refuse to compromise on what they’ve decided the market needs and ride that philosophy all the way to liquidation.