Image: BGR.com
Taiwanese smartphone maker HTC recently announced that its first-quarter revenue plunged 64% (revenue from January to March) and that profits fell 78% to the same period a year ago. While HTC has been seeing declines for four consecutive quarters now, the company is feeling optimistic that losses in its struggling business should end later this year, hoping that its new flagship product does well.
HTC chief financial officer Chialin Chang was hopeful the recent launch of the HTC 10 smartphone in April would boost sales:
“We are actually quite hopeful that the HTC 10 will bring back the momentum. From the internal management perspective, we are hoping the third quarter in the smartphone business we will be able to achieve a breakeven,” Chang said.
Although the company has struggled to maintain its edge against other companies such as Samsung and Apple, the brand claims that its new HTC 10 has the best smartphone camera on the market. It also has a new feature that gives users more options to personalize home screens than many Android phones.
The plan moving forward? The company mentioned two things: “HTC has seen strong launches in early Q2 ’16 for both the new flagship smartphone, the HTC 10, and the HTC Vive virtual reality system and anticipate good momentum over the year.” In addition, “HTC will continue to streamline processes and optimize resources to develop products in the most effective way.”
In addition to new flagship products, the company will invest $100 million in developing content for the Vive virtual reality system, which anticipates good momentum over the year.
“The media and consumer buzz around HTC, including for the keenly awaited launches of the flagship smartphone and Vive virtual reality system, clearly demonstrate our leadership in innovation and have provided a great boost to the HTC brand,” said Cher Wang, chairwoman and CEO of HTC. “We have been working hard to lay the groundwork over the past year, streamlining processes and optimizing resources to enable us to develop the best products in the most effective way.”