It appears HTC have managed to shore-up their finances - for now at least. The new year brought news of December wrapping-up a third successive profit quarter for HTC, after a seemingly relentless string of negative news for the company.
As I reported at the beginning of last year, HTC were looking to their mid-tier smartphones to drag them out from peril, and it seems to have worked. The reduction in reliance on their top-tier models was in keeping with pressures from a plateau in smartphone innovation at the top-end, allowing a shrinking in the distance between premium and the budget markets - pushed in particular by the Eastern manufacturers.
The HTC One M8, much like the HTC One M7, was critically acclaimed as industry leading, but HTC's flagship wasn't the hero to drag them out of the fire. It was actually Robin, the next-level down, that HTC can thank. Handsets such as the returning Desire range have performed well in emerging markets.
Companies such as Xiaomi and Huawei are eating away at the market share of the big two (Apple and Samsung) but more importantly, they have been making life extremely difficult for those sharing the 15% left. Xiaomi in particular, are eating away at all the competition with 61m handsets last year, and outsold Apple in Q42014 - not too shabby for a company that started just three years ago.
It's good to see HTC getting their heads out of the water for the time-being. Moving back to focusing on the quality of products is crucial. This pressure from other manufacturers will only intensify in 2015, and HTC will have to pull something special out of the bag to retain quarterly profits in 2015.
What do you think of HTC's 2015 position? Will it be a similar story this time next year? Comment below or contact me on Twitter: @tomkelk
What do you think of HTC's 2015 position? Will it be a similar story this time next year? Comment below or contact me on Twitter: @tomkelk
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