As you all know, HTC refused to be acquired by fellow Taiwanese firm Asus a while back, which gives rise to the question, ‘Is it a matter of pride for the company or is HTC really capable of bouncing back?’. It is not that HTC does not have the expertise to produce great handsets; it is just that the company has made a string of poor decisions that has brought it to this state. Let us take a look at some of those decisions that has taken HTC to its current position.
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Opting To Incorporate Snapdragon 810 In HTC One M9
The first mistake out of the several was choosing Qualcomm’s flagship handset to be placed in One M9. Despite the chipsets impressive processing prowess, Snapdragon 810 is unable to maintain this performance over prolonged periods thanks to the thermal throttling event that kicks in. Sony’s previous flagship smartphone, Xperia Z3, which runs a Snapdragon 801, exhibits better or par performance compared to Xperia Z3+ and Xperia Z4 due to this very issue.
After the release of One M9, HTC proceeded to release a flurry of other flagships, which included the company’s One M9+. Despite featuring an MT6795T, the handset does not suffer from the same overheating issues as One M9. Since the overheating problem persisted, HTC’s flagship offering raked in lower than expected sales. According to analysts, estimated One M9 shipments this year will only reach 4.5 million units, which is much lower compared to the 7 and 8 million units sold of the company’s One M7 and One M8 handsets respectively.
Too Many Regionally Exclusive Handsets Released By HTC
Another problem that HTC failed to recognize was that the company was releasing too many handsets that were strictly targeted to a single region. Taking HTC Butterfly J, along with a handful of other smartphones, HTC, instead of focusing on improving a single device, felt that more will bring good fortune to the company. We don’t have to remind you that rolling out a different of smartphones only adds further costs to its design, along with the remainder of the costs that go in to distribution and marketing.
Seeing as how One M9 was not the only device that was taking up that costs column, it would only mean that HTC would be burning cash at an alarming rate.
Questionable Quality Control Issues Of Its Flagship Smartphones
With the release of HTC One M9, you can rest assured that teardown experts are going to dig deeper to find get to the bottom of how the smartphone was actually assembled. Turns out that One M9 had some serious quality control issues, with details stating that the battery and motherboard were glued together rather than using money on screws in order to position the components securely.
When the news went out suggesting that HTC was cutting corners, consumers would most likely have been discouraged by what the company was up to.
Sub-par Marketing Campaigns From HTC
According to Daniel Gleeson, an analyst with HIS, he states that:
“Almost all of HTC’s problems stem from its lack of scale and sub-par marketing.”
In comparison to Samsung and Apple, HTC has a very minute budget, and with the lack of smartphone sales, you can expect that budget to dwindle down in the foreseeable future. Then again, Xiaomi does not allocate a ridiculous amount to marketing but looking at how the company has gained popularity thanks to its price/performance handsets, the company does not have to make a substantial effort in this particular front.
Is HTC Another Nokia In The Making?
We certainly hope not. The company has made a great deal of effort when it comes to the designs of its smartphones. Then again, at this current point, it can safely be said that if the company did manage to go under, it’s highly unlikely that it will be missed. If HTC is not willing to get acquired then what are the company’s options?
Starting off, the Taiwanese should avoid on releasing a phalanx of smartphones. A single handset, or at the most two, designed properly will definitely do the trick and in the longer run, the company will not have to add unnecessary costs designing other smartphones and placing orders of mobile chipsets from other companies. The other factor is pricing. HTC’s flagship offerings do not come at a cheap price tag. The company prices its high-end devices at the same level of Samsung, with the only difference being that Samsung possesses a much higher market share, particularly in the U.S.
HTC is gearing up to release its Aero handset, which is expected to be released in November. Boasting a different camera sensor, can the smartphone finally put an end to the egregious financial performance of the company? Highly unlikely, but one can pray right?
[“source – wccftech.com”]
