HTC’s Revenues Continue to Plummet

HTC is experiencing a prolonged rough patch. From once commanding 25% of the worldwide smartphone market a long time ago, the Taiwanese company only constituted about 4% of all smartphones last year in 2012. And it’s going from bad to worse.

Revenue Free Fall

HTC recently released its unaudited revenue for the month of August – and they paint a sorry picture. Revenues for the company, once the dominant force in Android – were just $443.3 million. That’s a 16% drop compared to the month of July, and a 45% decline year-on-year.

This was the lowest HTC has earned in the previous six months. HTC had disappointing results last month too, when it released unaudited results for the second quarter of 2013. The company had abysmal profits of $41 million after tax for the quarter, down from $246 million for the same period last year.

HTC’s revenues have tumbled despite the company having launched a successful phone in the HTC One. The company claimed it had sold 5 million units of the device in 50 days. The profits however, tell a different story. HTC has been consistently losing out to Samsung for the past few years now. The South Korean company, in comparison, had sold 20 million Galaxy S4s in about 2 months – ahead of HTC by miles.

The company also faced some disasters with the launch of devices like the HTC First – made in partnership with Facebook. The phone was a huge flop, and HTC had to resort to huge price drops in order to salvage the situation.

Recently, HTC employees in Taiwan were arrested for stealing trade secrets. This included the company’s Vice Product of Product Design, among others, who were caught downloading and transferring sensitive data relating to the company’s future products.

The Strategy Ahead

HTC has been trying to rekindle its fire with various strategies. The company recently flagged off its #HeresToChange campaign, roping in Iron Man star Robert Downey Jr. in a bid to draw crowds and gain visibility. It is also experimenting with devices at both ends of the market – with budget ones like the Desire 300, and mid-range siblings to flagships – like the HTC One Mini.

HTC is also aiming to take on Samsung in the phablet segment. Samsung currently dominates the phablet market with its Galaxy Note series of phones, and recently announced the Galaxy Note 3. HTC is rumored to be launching its own 5.9 inch device – the HTC One Max, to gain some market share.

While the company’s market share has only fallen for quite some time, CEO Peter Chou is hoping all the company’s new marketing efforts pay off, having them return to the glory days of 25% market share.