HTC June Sales Plummet 68 Percent, Its Largest Drop In More Than Two Years
HTC is facing some significant challenges as it finds it increasingly difficult to compete against Apple and Samsung in the smartphone market. The company earlier this week that it was laying off 1,500 workers to save money. Those layoffs come after the worst month of sales for the company in the last 24 months. HTC's June sales declined 68%.
HTC was once one of the bigger names in smartphones, but its fortunes have changed in the last several years. Palm and Blackberry faced the same harsh reality in a world where most smartphone users want an iPhone or Samsung Galaxy device. HTC is also being outpaced by nimble Chinese rivals like Xiaomi. Sales figures for HTC show that in June the company sold T$2.2 billion ($72 million) compared to the T$6.9 billion in June of last year and T$2.45 billion in May.
This latest sobering news for the company came only weeks after it launched a new flagship: the U12+. The problem many saw with that device wasn't so much one of hardware but price. The HTC U12+ sells for $799, a price on par with iPhones and Galaxy devices that consumers are gravitating towards. An unnamed analyst from Trendforce has said that lower than expected sales of its flagship device has led to lower market share for HTC.
The analyst also noted that HTC's low- and mid-range devices lack specs and performance-to-price ratio to lure in customers. Trendforce is also predicting that HTC will launch fewer devices this year with production for the entire year at fewer than 2 million units. HTC has seen its stock price
