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It’s no secret by now that some of HTC’s magic has worn off over the years. In fact, it’s more than worn off — it’s almost disappeared. The company still makes fantastic phones, but hasn’t been able to match the marketing prowess of their neighbors up north in South Korea, namely Samsung and LG.
That has resulted in the company’s first consecutive quarterly losses ever, and the trend continues with the release of today’s unaudited Q1 2014 results. HTC announced they pulled in revenues of over $1.92 billion on the quarter, but that still amounted to a net operating loss of about $64 million before taxes.
On the slightly brighter side, HTC did reverse their trend of declining revenue year-over-year as that number is up a slight 2.2%. HTC also expects Q2 2014 to be a profitable quarter, largely due to the fact that their flagship HTC One M8 has started seeding into the market as of March 25th. How much profit is an entirely different question, one that can only be answered with time.
It’s tough to see the company who once seemed like a giant now struggling to keep up with the industry. HTC has admitted to their own shortcomings, with the company particularly pointing out their troubling marketing efforts and their negligence in filling out the entry-level and mid-range markets.
The former bid cost the company $1 billion with almost nothing to show for it, while the latter gave Samsung room to flood the market with a myriad of devices at all price points and virtually no competition.
It’s a series of mistakes the company won’t likely make again, though you have to wonder if it’s too late to start pushing the train back in the other direction. We’ll certainly be looking forward to forward statements and an inevitable conference call about all of this at some point within the next month or two.
[via HTC]
Nothing will save HTC. Adios
Its too late
Too late for what? A loss of $64 million on almost $2 billion revenue isn’t (proportionally) a lot to overcome. Heck if they just reduced their advertising budget they’d be profitable, since their advertising has been completely ineffective anyways.
I will hate to see HTC fall. As a consumer, options are important. I remember my first Android phone (G1) was made by HTC. They make beautiful phones as their build quality (although never really bad) has continued to improve with each flagship device. However, after going Note 2 and Note 3, I cant see myself losing features for build quality. Unless the Note 4 doesn’t meet my expectations, I cant see myself buying a HTC phone, or any other android phone at that.
I had the original incredible and then the gnex so I missed all the junk HTC phones thankfully. I picked up the M8 on the bogo and it has been a great phone over the first week.
HTC should probably listen to customers if it wants to come back.
How are they not doing that? Dev support, added micro-SD card sup, added warranty support, let the people know about their updates and why they do certain things instead of leaving us in the dark…
Do people not want that? I mean, you can’t have everything in a phone. If so, the HTC One M8 would have had a full QWERTY keyboard.
People didn’t like the ultra pixel, they stuck with it. People don’t like how long the phone is, maybe they’ll change that next time. Disclaimer : no need for you to come swinging with HTC facts, I have a m8.
You said they’re not listening to people. The differences make it seem like they started listening.
But people were asking for microSD-card support and they added it. I don’t know…
Hopefully they listen to me and come out with the HTC G3. =.[
The main issues people had with the M7 was the lack of SD card slot and the Camera. Somethings still the same. They’re ignoring the fact that we live in the age of social media. Attention whoring with cameras is prevalent. We want good cameras for our pics of food and selfies. The ffc is cool though.
Trying to do my part; picking up the M8 on Wednesday. I hope they can turn it around. I’m pretty new to HTC (2012 with the Evo 4G LTE) but I really fell in love with the features-they just seemed to be what fits for me. I have a Samsung as well (work phone) & I like that too but I’ll probably continue with HTC for personal usage as long as they’re around.
Makes me want to buy one full retail as opposed to waiting on one on eBay…
My friend has the S4. He was a victim of issues with his Kit Kat update. He’s now looking at the Sony phones since he’s a Sony fan.
I think this is the year things start turning around. Samsung is still a cool company, but the only thing I like about their phones was their camera. But they don’t have anything “special” about them that makes them unique. Their Note line does.
They should market the Galaxy S Zoom as the new Galaxy Line-up. Make that phone high-end and sell that camera. That could sway me back to Samsung.
I’m afraid to try the Note series. I may like it too much and lose my front-facing speakers. LoL!!
2nd June. SAMSUNG will launch a new super cameraphone. I suggest you wait for that. Will be the best sensor optics camera smartphone of 2014
Check out the s5
This HTC One M8 success is making Samsung crazy. Samsung is so paranoid that it sues newspaper for $284k over negative reports on Galaxy S5. Sorry to say but now Samsung can’t take criticism for it’s inferior product in market.
Paranoid. When have htc ever sold more than galaxy. Let’s be serious s5 is a much better phone. Faster processor, better battery, better camera. Wait til April 11 see who paranoid
Samsung phones are cheaply made and crap. Never liked them from the first Galaxy S. Just look and feel so cheap. They almost always have an error or some flaw in their updates that make their phones worse as well. Definitely not a fan. I like my phone to have substance and not made of plastic. Samsung = Samsuck in my books. HTC all the way!
With their weak commercials 8 wouldn’t be surprised htc one stay in the red. Cheaply made? U mean durably made right. U seen the commercials. Samsung has taken over. It’s really no competition. No phone out there better than the Note 3. And galaxy s5 is going to keep the tradition going