HTC’s Sales For July Are Down

[cyberstoic]

Why? There are many possible reasons..... releasing too many phones that remain unsupported, sense bloat making the experience unpleasant and lag, using tiny batteries and having very poor battery life, samsung's jauggernaut advertising, the iphone 4s, and on and on. At this point it seems samsung is the only one making money on android (well amazon too). HTC and moto continue to have problems.

[dingo13x]

Realistically they've cut down on massive amounts of models, as you can see from the One line of devices.

They really are great devices, but it seems they can't shake that 2011 rap of just throwing devices at the wall and seeing what sticks. I suppose the SGS3 launch may have had something to do with it possibly as well. Sammy is beginning to have that same type of pull that Apple does with its yearly refresh.

HTC putting out a similar phone to the SGS3 with slightly worse hardware (RAM comparison) and you may see one other reason they're struggling. I realized I'm seeing much less advertisement for HTC devices recently as well.

Of course all of this is just speculation as to why I believe they may be struggling, so take anything I'm saying with a giant grain of salt.

Sent from my One X using Tapatalk 2

[Drillbit]

Two strong reasons.

1. The first reason is that HTC Sense isn't a draw anymore like it used to be. Back when Android looks plain, having HTC Sense was an asset. When Android turned pretty with Ice Cream Sandwich, Sense became a liability instead of an asset. Sense's creeping bloat didn't help it neither was the perception that Sense was slowing down (or preventing) the updates. Nexus One with plain looking Froyo was a market failure, but Galaxy Nexus with sexy Ice Cream Sandwich was a big success. It is time to reconsider the role of HTC Sense, as it has become a millstone around HTC's neck.

2. Overemphasis on the US market. For years, even as late as the 3rd quarter of 2011, HTC actually outsold Samsung in the US. In fact, Samsung has traditionally came third --- not even second --- in the Android race in the US, with Motorola the second. One should note that user surveys actually put HTC and Motorola ahead of Samsung, even though the HTC and Moto models maybe outspec'ed. These two brands have no problems competing with Samsung on the quality aspect. Where they are failing is in the global marketing.

Both HTC and Moto's overemphasis in the US came at the expense of the rest of the world. Should note that the US has the best HTC models, like the Rezound, Amaze, MyTouch Slide, EVO 3D, when the rest of the world only had the Sensation, later Sensation XE to deal with the Galaxy S2. Adding a GSM EVO 3D and the Sensation XL didn't help HTC last year when the Galaxy S2 swept the international markets last year in a big way. This is one reason why HTC decided to announce the One series first internationally. However, the EVO 4G LTE is still the better model and that's only with Sprint, not available in GSM to fight against the Galaxy S3 in the rest of the world.

Last year, 4 out of the 4 major US carried at least one top end HTC phone. This year, only AT&T and Sprint has the top end phone (One X and EVO LTE), while the other two carriers carried only the smaller (Incredible 4G and One S).

While HTC felt the Apple and Samsung squeeze in the US markets, the neglect in the international markets is also being felt with the rise of Huawei and ZTE. The latter has just overtaken HTC in terms of smartphone shipments. Huawei is also right behind. There is also the factor of a resurgent Sony and LG. In fact, these four companies increased shipments last quarter. It should note that HTC is the only Android vendor with decreased YoY shipments (HTC shipments are up Q2 vs. Q1 of 2011, aka sequentially per quarter). Even Motorola is up, even by a bit, thanks to the RAZR and the MAXX.

The most critical market HTC has not pushed best is in China, where at least 80% of the smartphones being shipped is now Android. Xiaomi and Meizu has been whopping successes in this front, and ZTE, Huawei and Lenovo aren't doing badly. I think HTC needs to focus on the EMEA market, along with the emerging markets in South America and Africa.

There is a disconnect between winning in the US markets vs. international ones. Samsung turned the number one Android vendor at the end of 2010 globally, but didn't turn so in the US until the end of 2011.