HTC has survived a number of hits in the last seven years,
but it still has problems. Now, tech media and industry analysts announce the
Taiwanese company to release a new smartphone called U12 Life. The upcoming
model, derived from the flagship U12 +, which was released earlier this year,
as well as the U11 Life, which was unveiled in late 2017, is expected to come
with some high-end specifications while being sold in a mid-priced segment.
Although the new model from HTC shows that it focuses on
consumers who are unwilling to spend the best dollars on their mobile phones,
Life does not have a combination of feature prices that will get the attention
they need to get it Dizzying sales of the company revive industry insiders.
"It does not look like U12 Life could get the HTC out of the troubled
waters it is in," said Kiranjeet Kaur, research manager, IDC Asia-Pacific
Client Devices Group. "The specifications are mediocre and the competition
in the middle class is intense. While U12 Life can help to keep it going for a
while, it will not help reverse the trend. "
Mixture of
specification:
Consumer technology media companies expect the mobile phone
to feature a colorful mix of mid-end and high-end specifications. According to
Tech Radar, HTC has reduced the performance, resolution and camera capabilities
of the U12 Plus. The price is $ 384, lower than a real high-end phone, but
higher than comparable phones from Chinese developers like Hauwei and Xiaomi.
The smartphone brings back a 3.5-millimeter headphone jack, reduces the
resolution of the selfie camera and greatly increases the screen size compared
to the U11 Life.
It should also be equipped with a larger battery, two cameras
and a ribbed housing to improve the grip, says Neil Mawston, executive director
of wireless devices at market research firm Strategy Analytics in the UK.
"There is little that distinguishes the U12 Life from the sea of other
Android smartphones," says Mawston. "The U12 Life will probably not
turn out in crowded store shelves."
New life for HTC?
HTC can use a lift. The Taiwanese smartphone maker said it
will lay off 1,500 workers in its manufacturing department in July, about a
fifth of its total workforce. Three years ago, HTC dropped 2,300 jobs and was
removed from the Taipei blue chip stock index. The smartphone maker reported a
net loss of NT $ 16.9 billion (USD 550 million) in 2017, which did not make a
profit for the third consecutive year. In the first quarter of this year, an
operating loss of 58.9% was achieved.
The 21-year-old company has lost market share since 2011,
when its share of global smartphone sales peaked at 10.7%, according to IDC.
The research firm says that HTC currently accounts for about 1% of the market.
The U12 Life will sell "only a few hundred thousand units" worldwide
this year, according to Strategy Analytics. The model is called a
"niche". The company needs the U12 Life to maintain the "Run
Rate" despite the slow sales; Kaur says A run rate means a calculation of
future performance based on existing financial information. HTC is likely to
deliver less than 1 million phones per quarter, Mo says with Canalys.
HTC's chairman, Cher Wang, said earlier that her company
would focus on developing new products to transform the mid-size smartphone
market. It also wants to improve HTC's image overseas and regain lost market
share. China and India are important markets for smartphone makers like HTC.
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