HTC plans to emulate Samsung’s something-for-everyone strategy to reverse losses

HTC acknowledges that it needs more than high-end handsets

While HTC technically ended 2013 in profit, the company says that declining margins are likely to see it end the first quarter of this year with a loss. HTC reported a wafer-thin profit of $10M from revenues of $1.4B, the latter figure 28 percent down year-on year. Its global market share of shipments was just two percent.

Reuters reports that the company plans to make a wider range of more affordable phones – the same strategy used by Samsung. Samsung made most of its money last year from a combination of its chip-manufacturing business and low- to mid-range handsets, and has itself come under pressure from low-cost competitor handsets … 

“The problem with us last year was we only concentrated on our flagship. We missed a huge chunk of the mid-tier market,” said co-founder and Chairwoman Cher Wang, speaking to Reuters in New York last week alongside Chialin Chang, HTC’s ‎Chief Financial Officer.

HTC also says it will also improve the marketing of its upmarket handsets. The successor to the HTC One, codenamed the M8, is expected to be launched in NYC in March.