News HTC sells smartphone manufacturing plant, doubles-down on Vive

business has bee struggling *been*.

 

Couple typos at the start the article:

"a real valued at £73.4 million." - assuming that should be "a deal valued at £73.4 million".
"has bee struggling" - letter 'n' missing


Time for some coffee?

 

Never figured out why HTC have struggled so much in the smartphone business - every HTC handset i've owned or used has been so far ahead of Samsung, LG and Sony in terms of build quality, and Sense was the benchmark for how to do Android properly in my eyes.

Maybe they literally put so much into that build quality they just didn't make any money on the hardware... or maybe the likes of Apple and Samsung were just too good at giving out incentives to phone carriers to push iPhones and Galaxy's...

 

Apple and Samsung have the high profit margin fashion brand market locked down, the low end to mid range market is an absolute cut throat business with every niche well covered and for those who want high end phones but still care about value Xiaomi, ZTE, OnePlus, LeEco, Vivo and so on offer far better value for the money than any of the traditional alternative phone brands (HTC, Sony and LG).

Sony and LG have other products to fall back on, for HTC it is tough luck, so not too surprising they are getting out while they can and gamble on the VR market.

 

No surprise. They're winding it down for a Vive spin-off.

 

Would be insane to go all in on VR in my opinion. But, I guess desperate times.....

 

Anfield explains it pretty well, I know this time last year Apple and Samsung had over a 100% of the profits from Smartphones due to other manufactures loosing money.

Outside of UK Wakka handset subsides are small, for example in the USA on Verizon. A IPhone 7plus 128gb edition is $121 a month with a unlimited plan.

In the uk the same phone on EE with a similar plan is £66 a month. With current exchange rates the phone is $40 a month cheaper in the UK.

We have a very unique Mobile Market. Most regions you pay up front fully or you buy the phone and plan as separate items.

HTC created very little worth buying in the last few years, they were slaughtered on most review sites. Not a big shock that they have given it up.

 

I've only owned 1 HTC handset and it needed 2 new mainboards in 12 months. Never went back.

 

That's because the UK is tiny and much cheaper to fit out with antennas etc. Cell phones (mobiles) are bloody dear out there in the U.S. You also pay for every call, no matter whether you made it or not.

Not something I miss.

 

Because their current stuff is expensive rubbish, their support is utter garbage and their attitude to updates is 'good luck with that...'.


*Glares at HTC handset on desk*

 

Might be doesn't change the fact that different markets do different deals. To say Samsung and Apple Pay outside of the UK is ludicrous. They both don't need to, Apple has the fashion tech and Samsung has the high end tech. Nothing else matters at this point for smartphones.

Apple and Samsung are like Intel and Nvidia dominating all players where profit is concerned.

 

shame, all of my phones have been HTC. And i'll admit that some of them had issues, but overall i've been happy. My HTC M8 is getting to be a few years old now. despite dropping it many times... Not sure what i'll get next.

 

Ouch. That's a nasty injury. How you feel better soon.

 

The are the dominant VR force on PC with Valve's direct support vs increasingly insignificant smartphone sales that's just eating money.

Valve is working with other companies though so HTC's market advantage will evaporate before the year has ended.

 

Bums, I like my HTC phones, had them for my past 3 handsets all used extensively the last 1 was 3 years and the one I'm using now is just entering its 3rd year of service and still going strong.

Yes, they sit in that funny middle ground, but imho they were the best, nice design, bloody solid and just worked.

 

Been dominant of the current high end VR market is a strange place to be. Sales are slow if steams hardware surveys are accurate. PSVR has sold more than both PC devices combined and Samsung gear VR has sold more than all 3.

VR on pc will only take off when the device is sub £300. The current prices are too much for the current content. VR makers are in a no win situation, don't grow the market means no development means dead products. Grow the market but you may end up loosing money.

PSVR has shown a market for VR at the right price. First big manufacture to hit it on pc with correct specs will likely become the dominant player in VR. Could Apple or Samsung create something maybe but not so sure.

 

This is what I've been saying all along - it's all well an good for people to say "don't knock it till you've tried it" or "proper VR is a game-changer" etc, but at the end of the day the market for people that have both a high end, VR ready PC and a disposable £700-800 for a Vive/Oculus is so small there just isn't going to be the support from AAA developers to properly develop it.

As much as people don't want it to be, it's 3D all over again. The content pool can't grow because the user base isn't there, and the user base isn't there because there isn't enough content to justify the cost of entry...