In the fight between the giants and the aggressive pricing strategy adopted by the Chinese phone makers, HTC, the Taiwanese brand appears to have lost out. The Taiwanese brand was quite popular and had a worldwide share of around 10%. With Apple and Samsung dominating the higher end and the Chinese brands like Oppo, Xiaomi and others occupying the next lower segment, HTC was left gasping for leg space in the market.
In an indication that the company is struggling, HTC has made an announcement that it is reducing the staff strength at its plant in Taiwan by around 1,500 hands. The total strength HTC has on its rolls all over is around 6,500 and this reduction will be carried out over a few months culminating by September. Along with this plan to layoff around 25% of its workforce, HTC is also restructuring its operations with the VR and the main smartphone businesses being merged and placed under a unified leadership.
Observers see this as the result of HTC’s agreement with Alphabet Inc. of the US, Google’s parent company and under this agreement, some 2,000 engineers from HTC’s smartphone assembly will be shifted to Google and they will be dedicated to making the Pixel range of smartphones and other devices.
The writing was on the wall when HTC posted dismal figures in terms of sales revenues in two succeeding months of March and April this year. The figures were down by almost 50% from the same period last year. One has to watch going ahead what the company plans to do to revive its own fortunes or if it decides to opt out in favour of some other management.