Taiwanese handset maker HTC just can’t catch a break. The company’s latest revenue numbers show that HTC took in just $522 million during the month of November. While that’s up 3.2% compared to the month of October, it’s down 27.1% year over year. If you combine all 11 known months of revenue for this year, they’re down 28.6% from the same 11 months in 2012. Analysts at TrendForce expect HTC to ship just 5.2 million smartphones during the current quarter (Q4), which is down 16.2% from Q3 2013.
Now the question is why?
Looking at HTC’s portfolio, they’re obviously all over the place. Samsung is as well, but whereas Samsung’s portfolio is clearly defined in terms of pricing segments, HTC’s portfolio is up and down, left and right. Take the recently announced Desire 700 for instance. It’s a $470 phone with horrible specs that’s supposed to look like a plastic version of the HTC One, yet the One Mini, which has better specs while still retaining a full aluminum body, is cheaper.
How does that happen?
There’s also the whole “phablet” question. Large screen smartphones, love them or hate them, are a thing in Asia, HTC’s largest market. HTC has only just now launched the 5.9 inch One Max, and every review I’ve read of that device thus far has universally been negative, driving folks to buy a Galaxy Note 3 instead.
Can HTC turn things around? I’m not so sure. Rumors about their next flagship phone, codenamed M8, are utterly boring. They say the phone will essentially be a spec-bumped One with the same old UltraPixel camera and the same old Sense software the market is tired of.
What do you think HTC should do?
