It seems every time HTC posts a new earning report, there’s nothing really positive to share. While we’d like to tell you that things are different this time around, that would be a flat out lie. That fact is that Q1 was the worst quarter on record for HTC with revenue dropping 64% when compared to the previous year. If that wasn’t bad enough, the company net profits took a $148 million hit during the first three months of the year.
While you’d think such a report would be demoralizing for HTC, the company appears to be optimistic about its future. Chief Financial Officer Chialin Chang says that the company is still working to trim operating expenses and is hopeful that HTC’s smartphone could break even by the time Q3 rolls around. Since the HTC Vive and HTC 10 were not yet available during the first quarter of of 2016, the company’s two big products for the year were not a positive factor during the quarter.
The HTC Vive and HTC 10 will be key players for HTC in Q2 and the rest of 2016. So far, the two devices have been well-received by the press and have the potential to become HTC’s most popular devices in years. The market for the HTC Vive VR system is still limited, but the device opens HTC up to a new market segment that doesn’t have much competition. With competing devices like the LG G5 and Samsung Galaxy S7, things will be a little tougher for the HTC 10. On a basic level, the HTC 10 comes with all the same features as its competitors, but HTC needs to pull together a robust marketing campaign to convince consumers that HTC is still in the game.
We know we’d asked this before, but do you think the HTC 10 and HTC Vive will be able to save HTC?
Source: HTC
Smartphone market become saturated. Even pepsi is making smartphone now and this is a sad story.
I think the HTC 10 will help keep them going along, along with some of the Desire handsets they have launched this year. But I think the Vive will be the big money maker as more and more people try VR and decide to give the VIVE a try.
Also if the smartwatch rumours are true that will help a bit as I think the design of the watch will be compelling and the new Qualcomm processor should be good for battery life.
Sadly I’m not surprised. They have handled the htc 10 launch in the UK terribly, left a lot of fans unhappy which has led to a lot of cancelled orders. Htc needs to learn how to treat customers.