HTC announced today that it is restructuring its business within the US, merging its smartphone and Vive businesses into a single reporting structure to “centralize the reporting structure within the region. In doing so, there have been some employee reductions to align the businesses and empower the teams to share more resources.”
The company did not reveal how many HTC employees have been let go, but a source has indicated that the number ranges from a few dozen to nearly 100.
Following last week’s announcement that Chialin Chang had stepped down from his position as president of HTC smartphone business, it’s becoming clear that HTC is cleaning house again. Despite glowing reviews of the HTC U11 last year, the company failed to turn a profit and will likely do the same if things continue in on the same trajectory.
It’s not yet clear what HTC’s strategy will be for the upcoming HTC U12, but the company will be facing steep competition from Samsung, LG and quite a few other players in the space. Some are predicting that HTC may even bow out of the smartphone business if the HTC U12 isn’t a commercial success. We wouldn’t want to see HTC throw in the towel, but there’s honestly no reason to continue building great devices if no one is interested in buying them.
Source: Digital Trends
HTC has long been a smartphone niche market for those users that want a high quality, innovative device.
They introduced the first production Android phone (2008), the all metal case mainstream with the M7 (2013), dual 3D cameras (2010), on board active noise cancelling (2016), acoustic focus (2016) and Edge sense (squeeze)(2016) – the list goes on!
The M7 gave HTC a hint they could possibly become mainstream and some of their management tried but when you are up against the bullies in the playground who have apparently limitless backing you are on a hiding to nothing.
The so called ‘invincibles’ were Nokia and Blackberry and arrogance put paid to their aspirations and they were quickly replaced by Samsung & Apple. Both are exhibiting the same arrogance of their predecessors and it will no doubt lead to their demise.
HTC needs to get back to basics, production wise, and manufacture for their niche market and have a production department the right size to handle this market.
The media are quick to jump on a company refocus as a sign of a dying company. This isn’t always the case. The same has been said about HTC annually by an over exuberant media who dislike that HTC are still there, year after year!
I look on HTC as similar to the Morgan Car Company who happily manufacture for owners of a niche market who want quality. (Morgan has been owned by the same family in the UK for over 100 years and produce the world’s longest running continuous model, their 3 wheeler)
The satisfaction HTC designers must get from seeing their innovation being copied by the opposition 2 or more years later.
The successor to the U11 is no doubt in its final trials by now and no doubt will be a humdinger and I know the same niche owners (myself included) await it with excitement!
Agree. But why ditch audiojack when they had best in class audio output in htc 10? Why ditch sturdy metal in htc 10 and put glass without wireless charging? Honestly, u11 feels cheap in the hand compared do the great 10. Why dont they put dual cameras? Its clear that consumers want it and it is even more strange considering that they were one of the first to introduce dual cameras and they ditched it. Why no amoled when its clear everybody wants it? Htcs decisions are completly illogical. After many years of buying only htc devices i finnally moved to V30. I consider it a true succesor to the 10. I didnt like the lack of headphone jack. My usb c port is not working properly and i need to send it to repair it before selling it. Sorry htc but if you will refuse to produce a complete product i will not buy your phone anymore. U11+ looks great but i wanted to experiment with wide angle camera and as long as there are phones with headphone jack i orefer to have one.
And the screen in u11+ is too dim for a flagship phone.