Due to a smartphone sales decline and valuation losses caused by idle production lines, HTC suffered losses again in the second quarter of 2015.
HTC said that by June 30, 2015, the company's unaudited net losses for the second quarter of 2015 were NTD8.03 billion, which was about USD261 million. The losses marked the end of HTC's minor profits for four consecutive quarters. HTC's minor profits in the previous four quarters were contributed by its strategy changes, including selling more medium-end phones instead of expensive ones in emerging markets and outsourcing some productions to cut costs.
During the second quarter of 2015, HTC's operating revenue was NTD33.01 billion, which was only about half of its operating revenue in the same period of last year. HTC did not disclose its smartphone shipment number; however, the company said due to a sales decline and outsourcing of some production, they had shut down some manufacturing facilities. The company did not reveal the detailed valuation losses caused by idle production lines
HTC was once the world's largest Android smartphone maker a few years ago. The company's current situation proved that it is hard for a second-tier smartphone manufacture to survive in a mature market. Although the company launched its new flagship product One M9 in 2015 and gained praise for its fashionable design, some analysts still thought that the new product was only a small hardware upgrade compared with One M8 launched in 2014.