Late last year, Taiwanese device manufacturer, HTC, was not in a good place. While its flagship device, the HTC One, had exceeded expectations, a slow start due to supply issues ensured that it never really saw its full potential. A bevy of subpar devices that followed it, including the HTC One Mini and HTC One Max, really hit HTC hard, which became months of quarterly losses following October 2013 after having not made a loss since it became public in 2002. Not one to be kept down, HTC changed their game plan: their fearless CEO, Peter Chou, downgraded his duties to focus on smartphone development, and HTC introduced several new services and, of course, the HTC One M8, which I predicted would all play a part in eventually seeing HTC rise from that dark place. And lo and behold, in July 2014, HTC is back in the black.
In the press release for its financial results in Q2 2014, HTC reports that its quarterly net profit came in at a healthy NT$2.78 billion (or approximately $93 million USD), which is almost the same amount HTC lost in the quarter ending October 2013. A lot of this can be attributed to the resounding popularity of the HTC One M8, but HTC’s mid-range devices, like the Desire line, have also improved in quality which is sure to have helped it in other regions. Whatever really caused the turn around, it’s good to see HTC back on the up, and hopefully this time they continue doing what they’re good at: being “quietly brilliant”.
What do you think about HTC getting back into the black? Let us know your opinion in the comments below.
