The company doesn’t seem to be hitting the mark anywhere, with neither high-end nor mid-range smartphones winning over customers. The one small ray of hope comes from HTC’s partnership with Valve to build the Vive VR headset, which launches this year.
To make matters worse, HTC also confirmed it would not provide guidance for the next quarter — and plans to withdraw from giving guidance in any future quarters to avoid what it characterizes as “side effects.” This policy could be detrimental for the firm, which is already under pressure from shareholders to show at least some positives.
Fortunately, HTC has a lot of cash to spare, meaning it can grind through a few more poor quarters without having to look at other options. It currently has a market cap of around $2 billion, making it a prime target for a private equity takeover, if its founder and CEO Cher Wang decides to go that route.
The launch of the HTC One A9 might provide the turnaround the company is hoping for, but early reviews don’t seem too hot. The company is also taking a lot of flak for the iPhone 6 knock-off design, with fans claiming HTC sold its iconic M7 shell to try and win over Apple fans.
HTC suffers from not having other sectors to back up a failing mobile business, unlike Samsung, LG, and Sony. All three Android providers reported grim numbers for the third quarter, but LG revealed strong display performance, Samsung noted growth in semiconductors, and Sony reported growth in entertainment and sensors.
