However, HTC plans to launch “a “holiday hero” smartphone with a more fashionable and design later this year”, Chang said during a teleconference. According to Tencent.com, the company will forgo some smartphone models in an effort to save costs and remain competitive against Apple and Samsung. The company unveiled its HTC One series of phones in 2012, as a way to generate buzz for its new flagship products.
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HTC also plans on capitalizing on market segments like virtual reality where it claims to have a “first move advantage”, but considering the fact that the VR market hasn’t completely evolved yet it’s unlikely to substantially prop up HTC’s numbers.
However, as a result of this loss of revenue, the company announced that it would make more drastic changes in the short term. The company is in the middle of a rebuild at all levels as it tries to compete more effectively against the likes of Apple, Samsung and Huawei.
“The cuts will be across the board”, HTC Chief Financial Officer Chialin Chang said, Reuters reported. He also warned that the job cuts “will be significant”, adding that they’ll extend into the first quarter of next year.
Third-quarter loss of HTC will be NT$5.51 to NT$5.85 per share.
The company said that it saw “weaker than expected demand at the high end”, consistent with the wider Android smartphone market, “along with weak sales in China”.
“We think HTC’s market share will keep dropping and it will keep recording losses”, said Calvin Huang, an analyst from a security firm in Taiwan.
There is potential good news, though, at least for HTC’s short-term prospects.
“Meanwhile, year-on-year shipment volume increases were seen across select key emerging markets”, said the company in a statement.
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If that is the case, we may come across fewer mid-range HTC phones in the near future and probably much better flagships. “HTC has begun to implement companywide efficiency measures to reduce operating costs across the organization and ensure resources are appropriately allocated to future growth”.
