HTC to shift attention to low-end to mainstream smartphones

A couple of years ago HTC was one of the rising stars in the smartphone market but things can change very fast in this market and now HTC is struggling to survive. In an attempt to turn the company around, HTC Chief Financial Officer, Chang Chia-Lin, said the company will now focus its attention on the $150 to $300 smartphone segment.

Of the 53 smartphones that HTC currently sells in China, just two are positioned in the $150 segment - which is the biggest in terms of volume in China. HTC admits it focused too heavily on the high-end segment, the company currently has 21 phones that cost over $500.

HTC's Chief Financial Officer, Chang Chia-Lin, said that the company will sell products in the $150-$300 price range in both existing and developing market. HTC hopes this will turn the company around from its problems from last year, where in saw its global market share drop to just 2%, its stock price dive 80%, and its profits slide 83% in Q2 of 2013, from the previous year. HTC co-founder and chairperson Cher Wang, when speaking with Reuters, said that HTC's "problem" last year was "concentrating on [its] flagship".

Out of HTC's entire range in China, just two of them retail for under $150 - where 21 of its handsets retail for over $500. Wang said that with HTC focusing on higher-end models, it saw the company miss "a huge chunk of the mid-tier markets" in 2013.

Source: TweakTown