HTC denies rumors it is selling its smartphone business
Once considered the golden goose of Android manufacturers in the early days of Android, it’s no secret that HTC is a struggling smartphone company. The HTC 10 hasn’t been performing as well as the company hoped and despite working with Google to produce the Pixel & Pixel XL, HTC’s name can be found nowhere on that project.
Compounded with the fact that the Taiwanese company is losing money hand over fist, it’s no surprise that rumors out of China have suggested that HTC is seriously considering selling its smartphone business and that four buyers are interested in buying the company’s scraps. The rumor suggested an announcement could be made as early as next year and that Cher Wang, the company’s CEO was on board with it.
While rumors of HTC’s demise have been floating around the tech world for years now, HTC has always denied them as it did with the rumor yesterday. In a new post on Chinese social network Weibo, HTC says the rumors are false and denies that it will sell its smartphone business.
It is interesting to note that despite denying the rumors, HTC hasn’t always been a smartphone company. It was created in the 90s as a PC part manufacturer before it started work on smartphones in the early 2000s. Now with the HTC Vive and the burgeoning VR market, there’s speculation that HTC could be ready to pivot again and start focusing on what it considers a new market of devices.
What do you think? Will HTC exit the smartphone business in the next few years? Should they focus on VR instead?