HTC today announced its Q4 FY2013 financial results. While it managed to eke out a small profit of NT$0.31 billion (about CA$11.3 million) on revenues of NT$42.9 billion (about CA$1.56 billion), the company saw sales decline again over the same quarter a year ago in what it typically a strong quarter with the holiday shopping season. With an operating margin of -3.7%, HTC’s struggles are clearly not over yet.
“We will continue to stay focused on making the best smartphone and building a compelling mid-range portfolio. Meanwhile, we are going to communicate better with consumers,” said Peter Chou, HTC’s CEO.
In an interview with Reuters, co-founder and Chairwoman Cher Wang attributed at least of HTC’s problems to focusing too much on its flagship HTC One smartphone and ignoring other market tiers: “The problem with us last year was we only concentrated on our flagship. We missed a huge chunk of the mid-tier market,” she explained. HTC plans to remedy that with new mid-tier devices selling in the US$150 to US$300 range in both emerging and developed markets alongside its high-end phones.
Wang dismissed a move to return to HTC’s roots as an ODM for other companies: “We’re not even considering that,” she said, adding that it is open to partnerships where its brand is featured alongside that of a partners such as a mobile carrier.
With the company forecasting that sales could be as low as NT$34 billion in Q1 FY2014, the imminent arrival of the HTC M8, the HTC One’s successor, and cheaper models cannot come soon enough.