Has HTC lost it's way?

[poofyhairguy]

It's not so much that they or similar peers have "lost their way", but rather hitching yourself to android means competing with an endless list of OEM/ODMs. Other than lower prices you can only really differential yourself from the fray (ie gain marketshare) through brand recognition/marketing, and thus far samsung and maybe LG has been the only success story there.

Samsung and LG the only success stories?! That is very first world of you.

What about Xiaomi or Huawei or OPPO?

 

[Froufrou]

I'm only wondering why the back of the phone is made of glass instead of metal. That will cause the phone to be unable to dissipate heat and overheat.

 

[ChronoReverse]

I'm only wondering why the back of the phone is made of glass instead of metal. That will cause the phone to be unable to dissipate heat and overheat.

Like the iPhone 4, or Nexus 4, or the Galaxy S6... oh wait, they don't overheat any more than their peers do.

Glass backs are bad IMO because they're fragile but they do dissipate heat and their primary benefit is radio frequency transparency.

 

[Froufrou]

Like the iPhone 4, or Nexus 4, or the Galaxy S6... oh wait, they don't overheat any more than their peers do.

Glass backs are bad IMO because they're fragile but they do dissipate heat and their primary benefit is radio frequency transparency.

Actually the Crapsung galaxy phones DO overheat more than metal phones. That's a scientific fact. Metal conducts heat, glass and plastic don't. Glass is a thermal INSULATOR. The heat in metal phones is transferred from the chip to the metal back through the layer of air in between by means of IR radiation. Metal phones can sustain an indefinite performance that's higher than plastic and glass, unless they have a garbage kernel (like the HTC 10 does). Crapsung phones always thermal throttle more than other phones.

 

[agent00f]

Samsung and LG the only success stories?! That is very first world of you.

What about Xiaomi or Huawei or OPPO?

Key word in the remark being "there", referencing success based on marketing/etc instead of undercutting on price.

 

[dawheat]

But we could all see in 2008 that this would happen, why didn't the manufacturers?

That simply would have accelerated the demise of most of these OEMs to 3-5 years ago instead of in the near future. The investment and resources needed to build a modern OS far exceeds what most companies can support. Firefox OS is a good example of underestimating just how much core work needs to be done. Then couple that with having to use substandard core apps like Yahoo Maps or Bing Maps as well as building your own app store and you're down a path by design only a small handful could emerge from as winners.

In my eyes this is the consolidation at the Android high end that was inevitable, especially for companies who don't build any hardware. Samsung and to a lesser extent LG/Sony can still differentiate, but HTC was always an off the shelf device.

 

[lothar]

Failing to see what the problem is... great processor, stacks of RAM, loads of built in storage...

All new flagship Android phones will have those same features, even the one released from more than 3 months ago.
I hope you sang praises on Google's Pixel phone that was released back in October because it has the same processor, RAM, loads of built in storage...that this new HTC phone will feature in March/April/May whenever they release this monstrosity.

 

[lothar]

I don't know for how many years I've been saying these manufacturers need to ditch Android and design and build a better OS.

Android is literally what is killing these OEMs and they keep stabbing themselves over and over by releasing more and more Android devices.

Yes...because building a different OS helped Blackberry, Sailfish, Firefox, WebOS, Bada, and Tizen right?

 

[agent00f]

That simply would have accelerated the demise of most of these OEMs to 3-5 years ago instead of in the near future. The investment and resources needed to build a modern OS far exceeds what most companies can support. Firefox OS is a good example of underestimating just how much core work needs to be done. Then couple that with having to use substandard core apps like Yahoo Maps or Bing Maps as well as building your own app store and you're down a path by design only a small handful could emerge from as winners.

In my eyes this is the consolidation at the Android high end that was inevitable, especially for companies who don't build any hardware. Samsung and to a lesser extent LG/Sony can still differentiate, but HTC was always an off the shelf device.

If they weren't capable of meaningfully differentiating themselves in some way then they needed to brace for the race to the bottom. The problem was HTC still thought it was among samsung/apple's peers.

 

[Topweasel]

If they weren't capable of meaningfully differentiating themselves in some way then they needed to brace for the race to the bottom. The problem was HTC still thought it was among samsung/apple's peers.

That's the core issue. Till 2014 they thought they without a misstep here or their they would be hanging with Samsung and Apple. That they just needed to right the ship and sales on their premium products would pick up. The crux of the matter is they either need successive success's in hardware with software that pull back consumers. They will lose money and it will take a bunch of time and will probably ultimately fail. Or they need to realize that they aren't a Tier 1 supplier and have a wider array of equipment including a flagship phone that costs less than their competitors. But they really need to spread out and hunt for the mid level $300-$400 phone market. Honestly if they built up a real decent mid range market of phone and started becoming profitable again they could still go after the premium phone market but they wouldn't be beholden to their flagship business.

I mean just look at Samsung got to where they are. It wasn't Galaxy S line from the beginning. They still have dozens of variations a year and if the S line takes a stumble they will still be pushing 10's of millions of their phones. They built a stable of alternatives that got people to buy cheaper Samsung phones and then these people eventually would step up to the S as the S line got better.

Another thing that hurt HTC is the move away from subsidized phones. Back in the day no one really paid attention to the retail cost of the phone. It was always $200. People are going to be less and less willing to buy full priced, premium phones, if they don't have confidence in the company or the phone itself.

 

[core2slow]

That's the core issue. Till 2014 they thought they without a misstep here or their they would be hanging with Samsung and Apple. That they just needed to right the ship and sales on their premium products would pick up. The crux of the matter is they either need successive success's in hardware with software that pull back consumers. They will lose money and it will take a bunch of time and will probably ultimately fail. Or they need to realize that they aren't a Tier 1 supplier and have a wider array of equipment including a flagship phone that costs less than their competitors. But they really need to spread out and hunt for the mid level $300-$400 phone market. Honestly if they built up a real decent mid range market of phone and started becoming profitable again they could still go after the premium phone market but they wouldn't be beholden to their flagship business.

It's a double-edge sword in HTC case. They can't market on miderange phones, journalists won't cover them. You can't trickle down when you're already competing at the bottom. They lost a chunk of the midrange market because they lost the high-end market.

Point blank, they need to focus on high-end phones with competitive specs at competitive prices before they can expand their portfolio downstream. They're not fooling anyone by releasing some mediatek soc, bland slab of phone with little regard to design and charge $800 for them.

They've honestly lost a lot of trust with their longtime customers and they need to build that back up before people can trust them with low-end/midrange devices.

 

[Topweasel]

It's a double-edge sword in HTC case. They can't market on miderange phones, journalists won't cover them. You can't trickle down when you're already competing at the bottom. They lost a chunk of the midrange market because they lost the high-end market.

Point blank, they need to focus on high-end phones with competitive specs at competitive prices before they can expand their portfolio downstream. They're not fooling anyone by releasing some mediatek soc, bland slab of phone with little regard to design and charge $800 for them.

They've honestly lost a lot of trust with their longtime customers and they need to build that back up before people can trust them with low-end/midrange devices.

They don't have the stay power left to compete on the premium phone front. To get sales at that point they have to under price Samsung by a significant amount. They can flood the market with tons of smaller niche phones and regain some market share grounds and start being profitable again. Honestly the best case scenario even if they don't get the profits is this Pixel deal. If they can continue being the defacto Pixel manufacturer. That will allow them an opportunity to continue to develop new flagship phones and buildup volume on those sales while turning most of their brand options to the wide pool in the middle where there is more room for penetration.

 

[desura]

HTC is a very odd duck. IMO they are too devoted to the high end and they failed to fill the sales channels for lower end phones. Also, whenever I go into a cell phone store the HTC model simply does not work and on the screen is a sticker.

They probably were always going to be at a disadvantage vs Samsung though because Samsung had AMOLED manufacturing while HTC is simply an assembler. It could have been done though...like Xiaomi has proven itself pretty nimble and it is only an assembler.

 

[desura]

The ironic thing is that the Chinese manufacturers like one plus and xiaomi have shown the way that they can succeed. The only thing xiaomi is lacking is a US sales channel. HTC seems to employ a crap ton of expensive European designers and marketers in contrast.