HTC, a popular brand in the past that has definitely seen better days, is hard at work to regain its position in the smartphone world. But now with more competitors around than 10 years back, trying to get a foothold in this kind of market will certainly not be easy.
The company, based in Taiwan, has been making low-end smartphones sourced from ODMs for specific markets in Asia. ODMs are manufacturers that create phones and then sell them to other companies who rebrand the devices with their own names and logos, in this case, HTC.
With the aim of breaking from this mould of making low-end devices, HTC had plans to release a flagship smartphone in 2022 that would ideally gain the company some market share in other regions in addition to the Asian market that they currently occupy.
However, it seems that this will not be happening this year as the company has come forward to say that supply chain issues caused by the COVID-19 pandemic have made it impossible for the company to release the flagship device in 2022, which would have also been released alongside with other more affordable options.
“Thank you very much for your patience and support. The new mobile phones originally scheduled to be launched in the second quarter will be delayed due to the impact of the epidemic on the global supply chain. Please also continue to pay attention to our social platform & we will announce the information of the new machine here! Thank you all again!” Reads HTC’s message on their Facebook page as translated by DeepL.
Previously, HTC had made a blockchain-focused Exodus 1 and Exodus 2 which most likely, due to the niche nature of the cryptocurrency world, did not sell well as expected. However, this might change in the future when more people are familiar and comfortable with the world of cryptocurrency and blockchain technology, maybe then such a phone might not be such a bad idea.
The postponed smartphone on the other hand was expected to be based around the growing phenomenon that is the “metaverse”. How HTC defines their metaverse is still up in the air, but there must be a connection with the company also announcing a new high-end HTC handset alongside the existing Vive Flow VR headset.
All these plans, however, have to be pushed backwards by at least one year. There also exists speculation that another smartphone model from HTC would be able to support Augmented Reality (AR) apps.
The downturn in HTC’s smartphone market share has also been reflected in its financial statements, with the company reporting the sales figures for April at only $7 million, which is the lowest monthly figure the company has ever seen since going public back in 2002.
Despite this, HTC diehard fans are still holding out for that one phone from the company previously known for making stylish and highly reliable smartphones that will propel it back to the higher echelons of the smartphone world, rubbing shoulders with the likes of Apple and Samsung.
