It is without a doubt that HTC has been having a tough time with its business, the latest financial numbers (Q4 2013) have just been released and the company has yet again suffered another decline in sales. Over the past year, HTC only reached NT$42.9 billion in sales as opposed to NT$60 billion for the year before that (Q4 2012); that’s a drop of 28% in sales for the last quarter of 2013. In order to overcome the problem, the co-founder of HTC and chairperson, Cher Wang, recently told Reuters that the company will focus more on mid-range phones in 2014 with a price ranging between USD$150 to USD$300.
Cher Wang said that the problem in 2013 was that the company was concentrating on its flagship smartphones, and only had two devices for sale for under USD$150 while the rest of the 21 were priced over USD$500. Don’t be mistaken though, the HTC One and other high-cost models were very well received but Cher Wang said that their focus has led them to miss “a huge chunk of the mid-tier markets” last year. HTC’s aim this year is to focus on cheaper smartphone in China for around 1,000 to 2,000 yuan in addition to releasing models in new markets such as Myanmar but will not tap the “very, very low end market” occupied by companies such as Xiaomi and Huawei.
Will you get a mid-range HTC smartphone if it is much, much cheaper than what they are offering at the moment?
(Source: TheVerge 1, TheVerge 2)
