It is apparently another disappointing quarter for HTC. The Taiwanese phone maker reported a second net loss for the 2015. The company had managed to post a small profit during the first quarter of this year, but a slow performance in terms of sales have immensely contributed to a loss amounting to $138 million during the third quarter.
It is a bit of a shame especially when you consider that not too long ago, HTC was one of the top smartphone vendors in the planet in terms of volume of handset sales. At one time, Google had even partnered with HTC in building the first ever Android smartphone, the G1. The Taiwan based mobile manufacturer had also built quite a reputation for producing devices that both industry critics and casual users found favorable. But in the last four years, HTC has struggled mightily. Competing with the Apples and Samsungs of the world has taken its toll, and the company was never able to generate robust figures in order ward off Chinese upstarts such as Huawei, Xiaomi, and Lenovo.
In the previous year, HTC was still able to achieve a net profit. The $19.7 million it posted during the third quarter of 2014 may not be much, but it was still a positive bottom line figure nonetheless. But during the same period this year, the phone maker’s revenues have fallen significantly from $1.29 billion to just $658 million.
Back in June earlier this year, HTC’s shares had slumped 10 percent when it reported its first net loss of 2015. Then the dominoes continued to topple over. By September, HTC found itself removed from Taiwan’s Top 50 Index, which is a list that ranks the companies with the most highly valued Taiwanese stock. And then in August, the company revealed that it would be laying off 15 percents of its workforce in an effort to help cut operating costs by 35 percent.
Despite its troubles, HTC continued to introduce new smartphone offerings, most notably its latest flagship device, the HTC One M9. But its newest handset did little in reversing the phone maker’s fortunes. Four years ago, HTC has enjoyed a 10.7 percent share in the worldwide smartphone market. Latest estimates now put the company’s market share at less than 2 percent, per Reuters.
Can HTC do better with its upcoming devices? (HTC is said to preparing to unveil a new smartphone called the HTC One A9, and a virtual reality headset called the HTC Vive.)
It remains to be seen for now.
