HTC, which was once a top smartphone manufacturer, had experienced what seems to be the worst year ever. In 2019, they have posted revenue of NTD 10.015 billion (about RM1.4 billion), which is a 57.82% drop from 2018 and a massive 87% decline from 2017.
If you look at the trend, this marks eight consecutive years of decline. HTC’s best year was in 2011 where they have reported NTD 465.80 billion (about RM63.5 billion) in revenue. In that year, they have launched several interesting products like the HTC Flyer, HTC Desire S, HTC Evo 3D and HTC Sensation. It is the same year HTC had acquired a controlling stake in Beats and they have released the HTC Sensation XE with Beats Audio.
According to Tim Culpan from Bloomberg, Apple’s hot-selling AirPods is making more money in a fortnight than HTC’s entire product lineup for the full year. That’s not surprising since HTC hardly launches any new phones these days apart from a couple of entry to mid-level devices. Its main focus is mostly on VR headsets and 5G hubs. At least Sony is still showing signs of life for mobile with the Xperia 1 and Xperia 5.
During TechCrunch Disrupt in October, HTC’s new CEO, Yves Maitre, had admitted that HTC has stopped innovating in the hardware of the smartphone. He added that Apple, Samsung and most recently Huawei have done an incredible job investing in hardware but HTC didn’t because they were investing in innovation for virtual reality. The CEO anticipates that HTC’s Xtended Reality (XR) offerings will overtake the mobile business in about five years.
