As HTC closed its smartphone online community in China in February, rumors have circulated that it will completely withdraw from the smartphone business, but it seems that it has not given up yet. Yves Maitre, who took over as CEO in 2019, recently told the Chinese media that HTC will launch its first 5G smartphone this year. It also expressed active investment in virtual reality applications.
The HTC smartphone business continues to stagnate. In 2017, it sold part of the development division to Google, and in 2018 its sales fell to less than $1 billion for the first time since its listing to $770 million. There is a strong image that it is in financial trouble as it is also implementing massive manpower reduction. However, HTC emphasizes that the company is financially sound and is relocating and investing manpower and resources for the future of 5G, virtual reality and AI.
In any case, HTC has said it has not given up on its smartphone, but it is clear that it has not released a high-end model since U12+ in 2018. There were products like Exodus that focused on blockchain, but it was difficult to say that they were the main products.
Details such as whether HTC’s 5G smartphone will be a flagship high-end model or a mid-range model are not yet known. HTC recently unveiled a new VIVE Cosmos, which offers a form that does not connect to a PC. The new 5G smartphone may be a product that will enable Vibe Cosmos to be used in a mobile environment. Related information can be found here .