HTC has come a long way in the history of the mobile phone, almost always on the bleeding edge! In 2007, HTC bought the mobile-device company Dopod International. Using this company, by the time 2009 rolled around, HTC was asked by Google to manufacture the first smartphone to run Android in the world, introducing the HTC Dream. By 2010, HTC introduced the first phone with a 1GHz processor, making even iPhone users drool over the speed, and in the same year, released the US's first 4G phone. By 2011, HTC was flying with the HTC Sensation, the first mobile phone in the world to feature an 8MP camera/1080p video recording, as well as a powerful first-of-its-kind dual core processor. In other words, another bleeding-edge phone. However, it was after this that HTC started to slip up, and Samsung and Google's new Nexus 4 (a more budge-friendly android phone), as well as the iPhone, started to eat away at HTC's market share.
While many speculate why HTC was losing market share, I speculate that it was due to the fact that their phones were all constructed of plastic in contrast to the new iPhone 4 featuring glass and metal construction, but also, the battery life of HTC phones were unfortunately lower than many phones, as HTC was cramming very powerful hardware, such as 1080p cameras, higher-resolution displays (displays that suck nowadays but were great back then), 4G, and the fastest processors available, but the batteries were remaining relatively the same size. Thus, competitors such as Apple and Samsung's Galaxy series phones, such as the S3 and S4, beat it at its longevity game.
HTC noticed their slipping situation, and decided to make a radical approach to their game. In 2013, HTC released the phone they believed would be the ONE to save them from turning broke; the HTC One. While this phone stopped their downfall for approximately 1 year, and won multiple awards from almost every tech news company as being the "Best phone of 2013" for its amazing solid-metal build quality, great cameras, and its extraordinary front-facing BoomSound speakers, unfortunately, it ultimately had little effect on the overall scheme of HTC's failure.
Since 2013, all HTC has released has been exact clones of its HTC One (dubbed the One M8 and the One M9), with minimal changes to the aesthetics and poor cameras. They also released the HTC One A9, a complete ripoff on the iPhone's design.
But while these haven't been successful devices, HTC is planning a turnaround this year, in 2016! They will release, or at least continue developing, HTC Vive, their amazing VR platform that is years ahead of Oculus. They are also planning for their new HTC One M10, which I'm currently hoping brings their One series back. They are also looking to make their third ever tablet, something the company has not been very successful at pushing thus far. However, most importantly for HTC's future is that Google is considering signing a contract with HTC to make two of the 2016 Nexus phones. The Nexus lineup is the lineup of phones that Google uses to release and showcase all of its newest Android features on, and typically sell well in the tech community, though not in high bulk like Apple or Samsung branded devices. However, the fact that a huge agreement for two new phones could be a huge turnaround for sinking HTC, and just the rejuvenation in their dying brand that they need!
-654 words
Sources: http://www.techradar.com/news/phone-and-communications/mobile-phones/path-of-the-one-the-headline-hits-and-flagship-flops-from-htc-1236414/2
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTC
No comments:
Post a Comment