It seems a monthly trend: HTC release their earnings report for the month and we all marvel at how badly their ship is sinking. This month is no different with HTC releasing a 26% year of year decrease in revenue, making you wonder how long it will be before Google buy the rest of them.
For November 2017 HTC recorded a monthly revenue of NT$5.66 bn, down from the NT$7.77 bn of November 2016. This equates to a 26.16% decrease from last year and a 6.61% from October of this year.
Considering that HTC have finally started making some top notch phones with decent software it is strange that they cannot convert this into sales and revenue. A couple of months ago Google paid a staggering US$1.1 bn for some employees and some IP and when the company is worth around $1.9 bn it seems to smell a lot like a bail out by Google. Unfortunately this bail out doesn’t seem to be helping and HTC’s decisions don’t seem to be helping the process.
Their decision to only bring the phone that was originally slated to be the Google Pixel 2 XL, HTC U11+, to select markets which do not include the US and the world’s most important market, Australia is a strange one because at this stage you would think they would want to sell as many as possible. HTC may well be betting on the Android One handset, the HTC U11 Life making some decent sales for them but it would take a lot of sales to get them out of this hole.
It is possible they are attempting to consolidate their markets while times are tough for them but if they have too many more months like this one they will need a full buy out from Google and a resteering of the ship to stay afloat. HTC make great hardware, something Google want.
To us it seems to be a partnership/takeover that would be a great fit. Google have shown this year that they are serious about hardware in releasing so many new products and they have shown that sometimes the quality of components is often out of their control. Bringing the manufacturing arm in-house to a totally Google-owned process would hopefully stop any repeat process of the hardware problems that have plagued the Pixel 2 XL this year.
Let’s be honest, Google can easily afford it and other Android manufacturers are now seemingly comfortable with Google being in the hardware game. Time for Google to have their own manufacturing plant where they control everything. With HTC floundering Google should be putting their hands into their pockets and finding the spare change they need to buy themselves a high quality hardware manufacturer.
I remember when I bought my first HTC, it offered the best value for money. The phone had the latest SoC, reasonable amount of RAM but was at a lower price point than the others. Presently, HTC see that other flagship phones are fetching top dollar and are marketing their flagship at around the same very high price. What HTC need to do is what the Korean car companies did back in the 80’s. That is offer better value by packaging decent specifications but at a lower price than their competitors. In phone terms, offer a flagship at the price… Read more »
Please please don’t buy them. The core development team is enough. HTC never knows how to make a good phone. So ugly.
You must be thinking of a different HTC. They have always made great phones. In fact, at one time, they were the market leaders. Unfortunately, it is their marketing that is letting them down. Some great phones were released to the Chinese market but not to the rest of the world. Looks like the U11+ will fall into this category. With Google’s marketing clout, they may just turn the boat around.
Such a pity about HTC, I’ve had over the years four units from them, still got a One M7 and a U11. The build quality has been the best
I’ve got their HTC 11 and I love it. Can’t believe how good the camera is either.
Only the latest PRO has tempted me but thats not available in Australia last time I looked.
The u11+?
Yep thats the one