Good point.
But if you consider that Google is in essence already another OEM with their Pixel plans, purchasing a fledgling HTC to become their official hardware branch could make sense.
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HTC U11
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Good point.
But if you consider that Google is in essence already another OEM with their Pixel plans, purchasing a fledgling HTC to become their official hardware branch could make sense.
Unless HTC are on the verge of collapse it wouldn't make sense for HTC.
Remember HTC make their money from hardware, Google from software and ad revenue...
Purchasing a hardware company and putting out only 1/2 handsets a year as Google seem akin to do (and even then almost reluctantly) just doesn't make any commercial sense for HTC to be bought out.
Google may be happy to partner with a company and let them build their device, but that's very far away from wanting to step into the full hardware game itself. It's already demonstrated that it doesn't want to do that, and unless HTC were financially on the ropes with the threat of going under imminently then it would not make sense for them either.
HTC had great success with Vibe, it may be simply a case that HTC's future will continue to be branched off as they develop new hardware and eventually smartphones may play a very fleeting part of its overall portfolio.
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Would that really help?
HTC is a shell of its former self. They're no longer a big player anywhere anymore.
Yes... HTC releases new phones every year and we read about them on tech blogs.
BUT NO ONE BUYS THEM.
Plus... I'm not sure how a Taiwanese company is supposed to help in US and western markets.
^ let alone the politic of a Taiwan company being bought by a Chinese one given Taiwan's push for its own sovereignty...
Politics aside, I think HTC would prefer to get an infusion of cash even though it would sicken a lot of the leadership. A Japanese company isn't a bad idea. Remember, companies might not even have anything besides sales online. HTC at least has a reputation with T-Mobile USA. It's not realistic, but it can a business opportunity.
I agree it does alienate some other OEMs. But at this point I think Google should live with it. Look at the success of the Pixel. There is a 2 month wait for the XL on Verizon (should not have been exclusive to begin with). If Google buys HTC they can give priority to the Pixel and finally meet demand. They can show other OEMs how updates and user experience should be done. Sometimes you have to lead by example.....
While i do believe a takeover may finally solve their production issues, if they do stick to the Apple model then its not something i would be in favour for either. it wouldn't effect me directly, but i wouldn't like to see one of the big contributors to the low/mid range sector bow out.
That said i do think HTC need to scale it back a a bit and rethink things. They release way too many phones a year with a few being mid/low end derivatives of their flagship which just confuses the hell out of me.
It's certainly tough to be an Android OEM.
There were over 350 million Android phones sold last quarter. How can any OEM compete in this market?
That's 3.8 million Android phones sold every day. Crazy.
What could HTC do to make people buy their phones instead of the hundreds of other models on the market?
Haven't they tried everything already?
I just don't think people care about HTC anymore when there are Samsung, Huawei, Oppo, Vivo, etc selling massive quantities of Android phones.
Vivo was #5 on the list last quarter with 25 million units. HTC never sold that many phones EVER in a single quarter.
HTC would be lucky to sell 12 million units in an ENTIRE YEAR.
Very valid points, outside of pricing, its difficult to imagine a scenario where HTC claws its way back up the ladder. Even leveraging their Vive technology probably would not have the impact it could have had if it was released a few years earlier.
Personsally i wouldn't say they tried everything, being that they jumped on Android very early. When Samsung were establishing their brand with the galaxy series and expanding it with the note, what were HTC doing? Boomsound was only going to take them so far.
Still no flagship above what 5.2"?
Planning on selling a phone that is largely compromised of non flagship specs for a flagship price and release it 2-3 months after the announcement.
Also create a Luxury version of unreleased phone.
I'm sure the list could go on and on.
I was just thinking they've done what almost all Android OEMs do: make many products to appeal to a wide audience. They've occupied the flagship market as well as the mid to low-end space too. They're a full-line smartphone OEM.
But they've sold poorly despite having a full range of products. So imagine if they got rid of most of their models and focused on just a flagship or two? I think that would actually be worse.
Some people say HTC has failed with marketing... which may have some merit to it.
But again... the Android market is so ridiculously huge nowadays... I'm not sure that would even help.
Almost no one outside of here remembers the HTC 10 from just one year ago, so I think that says a lot.
Thats not my point, i stated that i wouldn't be in favour of them going the flagship only, two handsets a year model if bought by Google. I just went to GSMArena and i count 16 phones released in 2016 by HTC. Thats more than a 1 a month average. Granted some of those i assume did not see the light of day in some markets but for a company in HTC's situation, imo its too many. To me thats just throwing everything against a wall to see what sticks when having a more focused strategy may be more beneficial.
Then you have their odd naming convention that they've adopted for a few years now. 10 is their flagship phone then you have phones that are mid range or just below their flagship in specs named 10 pro or lifestyle or 10 Desire Lifestyle. One of which was released just a month after the 10. its no surprise that many outside of the most dedicated forgot about the 10. It was literally the flavour of the month from HTC.
As you say though at this point it may be too little too late to make the sort of penetration they would have hoped for but rethinking things and scaling things back may help.
That's a lot of phones. So how many phones got released in 2016 by other companies like Samsung and Huawei?
Like I said... I think HTC is doing what everyone else is doing... just not as well, apparently.
So maybe a change is needed.
I don't know if that will help the situation. They'll make an amazing phone like the HTC 11... get tons of press... spend millions on marketing...
...and it will still get upstaged by some other phone from some other company the following month. That seems to be the nature of the Android business.
And that's probably why HTC releases new models monthly... trying to get people's attention.
Let's say they scale back and focus on 6 new phones in 2017 instead of 16. But is that really gonna matter?
There will still be a zillion other phones from everyone else. It's a (too) crowded market.
That's a lot of phones. So how many phones got released in 2016 by other companies like Samsung and Huawei?
Like I said... I think HTC is doing what everyone else is doing... just not as well, apparently.
So maybe a change is needed.
I don't know if that will help the situation. They'll make an amazing phone like the HTC 11... get tons of press... spend millions on marketing...
...and it will still get upstaged by some other phone from some other company the following month. That seems to be the nature of the Android business.
And that's probably why HTC releases new models monthly... trying to get people's attention.
Let's say they scale back and focus on 6 new phones in 2017 instead of 16. But is that really gonna matter?
There will still be a zillion other phones from everyone else. It's a (too) crowded market.
Yeah i think thats the problem, Huawei and Samsung have aggressively targeted emerging markets like China and India by either releasing handsets exclusive to these territories, slightly better variants of their flagships or in Huawei's case, releasing their flagships there before they do other markets.
As you say its incredibly competitive so i personally don't see how flooding the market with phones, especially when you are a struggling company like HTC and not market leaders like Samsung or Huawei is beneficial. Hardly anyone gives a crap so we will give you over a dozen more phones not to give a crap about? Sounds like a good way to haemorrhage money.
They scale it back to 6 or so handsets theres no guarantee of growth. However you reroute some of the money and resources you spent on developing 16 for 6 in areas like R&D, marketing etc and put strong focus on pricing and release you can minimise loss and give yourself a better chance for growth imo.
I thought the HTC 10 had OIS? Not positive.
With LG now also adding waterproofing, there will be no excuse for HTC to not include that.
I don't know if it's hardware or software OIS. The front and back cameras have it and it works pretty well. It's been awhile since I took videos with my HTC 10. It does good videos but when I was recording a school Christmas concert it had trouble resolving the exposure as I panned from various parts of the stage and areas around the stage. The stage lights threw the camera off too much and it just could not expose the scene properly and made a lot of faces bright blurs. So I set it down and took over with my S7 Edge.
In most other lightning situations it performs well.
I think the big problem any Android manufacturer that's not Samsung is going to have this spring is that Samsung has a monopoly hold on the QC Snapdragon 835 for the markets that get the Snapdragons. Which is why HTC and LG are hamstrung out of the starting gate with their rumored 821 chips. That's not a huge problem for lower priced phones like the OnePlus 3 T. But when you're talking about phones seeking to command flagship price points...ouch.
In most other lightning situations it performs well.
I think the big problem any Android manufacturer that's not Samsung is going to have this spring is that Samsung has a monopoly hold on the QC Snapdragon 835 for the markets that get the Snapdragons. Which is why HTC and LG are hamstrung out of the starting gate with their rumored 821 chips. That's not a huge problem for lower priced phones like the OnePlus 3 T. But when you're talking about phones seeking to command flagship price points...ouch.
That's where the major OEMs need to undercut the S8. I think people would rather spend $400 on a HTC 11 than $800 on a S8. Especially if the only difference is processor performance. If the HTC 11 features 6gb of RAM, Samsung cannot beat that because their RAM management is woeful to say the least. I am expecting big things out of the S8, but I am not spending $800 on that phone. I would rather buy the OP3T or OP4 for $400.