HTC is laying off 1,500 employees as sales and revenue continue to decline

HTC has announced today that, amid financial troubles, the company will be laying off a huge portion of its workforce in Taiwan.

In the smartphone market, HTC has been struggling for a few years now to compete with the likes of Samsung, LG, and Apple, with sales and popularity for the company’s devices falling year-by-year. In recent years, the company has seen many workers move to Google to the tune of $1.1 billion dollars, and mergers within the company’s divisions as well.

Now, after just recently saying it would turn a profit this year, the company is cutting about 1,500 jobs, nearly one-quarter of its global staff, from its manufacturing unit in Taiwan. HTC says (via Reuters) that this move will “optimize” functions in Taiwan, and that it will “allow more effective and flexible resource management going forward.”

9to5Google’s Take

With HTC continually struggling to gain any traction at all in the smartphone market and recent issues with its VR products, it really makes you wonder where the company plans to go moving forward. Cutting jobs may help in the short-term, but with nearly 50% drops in revenue and sales year-over-year in recent months, things aren’t looking good at all. It’s almost as if HTC is pressing buttons in hopes of something working, but finding out that they aren’t actually buttons at all…

Check out 9to5Google on YouTube for more news: