The end is nearing for this smartphone maker that once ruled Android world

HTC, the company that helped Google give traction to Android OS is now on the verge of death. The famous Taiwanese maker reported that sales fell 68% in June and this is their biggest slump in more than two years. HTC could only sell products (total) worth 72 million USD. At this rate, it will be really hard for the company to survive another year.

One major cause for this slump is lack of innovation at the top end for a couple of years. That led to companies like Samsung, LG, ZTE, Vivo, Oppo grab massive market share in key markets. One example is that HTC’s bezel-less smartphone came full two years after Samsung and other brands moved to the new display tech. HTC continued to price their products at a much higher price, even though they knew that they cannot compete when brands are offering products at a lower price.

“In the high-end segment, the sales of their flagship phone this year has been lower than expected, leading to lower market share,” said an analyst at market research firm Trendforce who declined to be named.

“As for HTC’s middle-end and entry-level series, the new models feature neither new specs nor high performance-price ratio, influencing the sales,” the analyst said.

An effect of this slump is the reduction of HTC’s global workforce by 1500 employees. The layoffs are mainly at their factory in Taiwan.