HTC's Financials are Worse than Grim

[dgstorm]

To say that HTC has had a rough year in 2015 is a massive understatement. It turns out the company is in dire straits. Several times over the years we shared terrible news for the company and compared it to a sinking ship, but their financials for this year really do fit that description now more than ever.

HTC's revenue for 2015 was just NT$8.7 billion (~USD$280 million), which was more than a 60% decline from the NT$21.9 billion reported in June 2014. This is the second lowest revenue reported by the company in almost 8 years. In fact, HTC’s monthly revenue was down 38% in April, 48% in May, and 60% in June, and their 2nd quarter numbers posted a net loss of $258 million.

What's even worse is that investors seem to have finally given up on the struggling mobile phone maker too. HTC's market cap has dropped by half (down to $4.06 billion) in just a few months. Their stock price has tanked to around two dollars a share, which is a 10-year low for the company. Obviously these numbers don't necessarily mean the company is anywhere near bankruptcy, but it definitely seems like it is sliding toward that eventuality.

Is there anything the embattled phone maker can do to turn things around this time, or is it finally the gloomy end?

 

[dezymond]

They seem to have way too many internal issues and their devices have become stale. They're going to have to start their HTC One line from the ground up to try and save the company. I haven't heard too many good things about their latest One phone.

 

[cybertec69]

I have been saying this since the days they decided to try to be Apple, when they went the route of no micro SD card expansion and removable battery, it was the beginning of the end, the HTC Incredible was my first Android phone and I was hooked, then I got the HTC Rezound, another great device for it's time, then it started going downhill after that until the M7, which did OK but not great, but instead of improving on it's shortcomings like camera and battery, they made the same mistake again with the M8, and the M9 has been a complete disaster. I blame Chu for HTC's demise, stubborn as an mule, which cost him his position and eventually the whole company, the way the smartphone market is going with all this competition, especially China, the end will be very near for HTC. In today's mobile world, it's Apple, Samsung, LG "to some extend", and the Chinese.

 

[jbal52]

I have been saying this since the days they decided to try to be Apple, when they went the route of no micro SD card expansion and removable battery, it was the beginning of the end, the HTC Incredible was my first Android phone and I was hooked, then I got the HTC Rezound, another great device for it's time, then it started going downhill after that until the M7, which did OK but not great, but instead of improving on it's shortcomings like camera and battery, they made the same mistake again with the M8, and the M9 has been a complete disaster. I blame Chu for HTC's demise, stubborn as an mule, which cost him his position and eventually the whole company, the way the smartphone market is going with all this competition, especially China, the end will be very near for HTC. In today's mobile world, it's Apple, Samsung, LG "to some extend", and the Chinese.

Hmmm, No SD cart slot and no removable battery? Isn't that the way Samsung is going? Can we say Samsung's future may be seen here in HTC?

 

[shockracer]

I was able to score a free M9 for the wife by warranting her M7, being nice and sweet talking goes a long way. The M9 is a great phone and I would take one over my M8. The camera wasn't perfect at first until I adjusted a couple settings, now it takes amazing pictures that you can zoom in on! The battery life is a bit better than my M8 as well.

The Wife wanted a Samsung because of all the flashy advertisements, but after she had hands on with family members S6 and seen just how laggy there phones are. And now that Samsung has removed the SD card it was a clear choice.

She loves the phone as a hole and can't get over Theme on sense 7, especially the custom keyboard designs. Thanked me for being persistent with not getting a Samsung.

Samsung is tanking every month, they just have endless amount of money for advertising, it also helps that they have become a household name so they are more recognisable. At least once a week I'll run into someone that hasn't heard of HTC.

HTC shouldn't have made the M9 look so similar and kept so many similar specs to the M8, that is probably one of the biggest things. They also need to appeal to different parts of the market, budget, high end, and premium (like the Note or One Max).

 

[cybertec69]

Hmmm, No SD cart slot and no removable battery? Isn't that the way Samsung is going? Can we say Samsung's future may be seen here in HTC?

Not even close, Samsung is still the number two smartphone supplier in the world, and Samsung is not only a smartphone supplier, Samsung unlike HTC produces is own chips, develops them, manufactures them, from memory chips to graphics to cpu, even the modems in the chips, they also manufacture their own screens, and they manufacture all those components for many other smartphone companies, including Apple, so no, Samsung is in a completely different stratosphere than HTC.
And let's not forget all the other divisions in Samsungs portfolio, like home appliances, LCD'S, PDP's, Blu-Ray players, computers, pharmaceutical devices, and industrial applications.

 

[dezymond]

Hmmm, No SD cart slot and no removable battery? Isn't that the way Samsung is going? Can we say Samsung's future may be seen here in HTC?

While one could argue that, I don't think it'll happen. Samsung has been far more successful than HTC and although they've gone that route now, they've built a very strong customer base to do so. Not to mention they actually improve their devices with each generation, can't say the same about HTC.

 

[cybertec69]

I was able to score a free M9 for the wife by warranting her M7, being nice and sweet talking goes a long way. The M9 is a great phone and I would take one over my M8. The camera wasn't perfect at first until I adjusted a couple settings, now it takes amazing pictures that you can zoom in on! The battery life is a bit better than my M8 as well.

The Wife wanted a Samsung because of all the flashy advertisements, but after she had hands on with family members S6 and seen just how laggy there phones are. And now that Samsung has removed the SD card it was a clear choice.

She loves the phone as a hole and can't get over Theme on sense 7, especially the custom keyboard designs. Thanked me for being persistent with not getting a Samsung.

Samsung is tanking every month, they just have endless amount of money for advertising, it also helps that they have become a household name so they are more recognisable. At least once a week I'll run into someone that hasn't heard of HTC.

HTC shouldn't have made the M9 look so similar and kept so many similar specs to the M8, that is probably one of the biggest things. They also need to appeal to different parts of the market, budget, high end, and premium (like the Note or One Max).

It's not about what your wife loves, HTC is going to hell in a handbasket, the numbers don't lie, same thing happened to Blackberry and Nokia, there is only so meny quarters a company can operate in the red, eventually the creditors will just take their losses write them off and be done with HTC, that's how it works in the REAL world, not the fanboy fantasy world.

 

[kodiak799]

Oddly enough, major camera improvements might be what saves/resurrects the SD slot. It's been mentioned before, but between 4k video and, to lesser extent, RAW photos people are going to demand more storage. Limited data plans and bandwidth speeds make cloud storage kind of unfeasible.

And, ummm, if you caught the blurb that Sammie is developing an 11K display to mimic 3D (without glasses)...well, what about shooting that in photos or even video?

 

[shockracer]

It's not about what your wife loves, HTC is going to hell in a handbasket, the numbers don't lie, same thing happened to Blackberry and Nokia, there is only so meny quarters a company can operate in the red, eventually the creditors will just take their losses write them off and be done with HTC, that's how it works in the REAL world, not the fanboy fantasy world.

as is Samsung, the smartphone market is tough. These devices last much longer than a year yet they push all this money out to try and build a phone the has only a little bit of difference from last year's model, it's just not worth it to most to upgrade every year.

If smartphone companies started stretching out the release of flagship models it would be much more interesting and attractive. The automotive industry does this, the console games do this, even the computer industry (laptop, tablet, and desktop, for the most part) does this. Google has been trying to release a newer OS every year, and every year you can tell it is more and more rushed and has more and more issues.

 

[kodiak799]

If smartphone companies started stretching out the release of flagship models it would be much more interesting and attractive. The automotive industry does this, the console games do this, even the computer industry (laptop, tablet, and desktop, for the most part) does this. Google has been trying to release a newer OS every year, and every year you can tell it is more and more rushed and has more and more issues.

They could at least have two "flagships" they release in alternate years, maybe a phablet size and more useable size. There's really nothing to lose and plenty to gain in R&D efficiencies. Like you said, most people aren't upgrading every year. Plus, there's not a ton of loyalty, so the idea you miss out on or lose potential customers not having a new phone for every segment is a misconception.

 

[cr6]

While the M9 is a decent device, the S6 outperforms it in every category. There's a reason Samsung has a "Apple-like" following, and it isn't just because they have a larger advertising budget than HTC. They simply make a better device. Unless HTC pulls a rabbit out of their hat in the next year or two, I don't see them being around for much longer.

S5 tap'n

 

[dezymond]

as is Samsung, the smartphone market is tough. These devices last much longer than a year yet they push all this money out to try and build a phone the has only a little bit of difference from last year's model, it's just not worth it to most to upgrade every year.

If smartphone companies started stretching out the release of flagship models it would be much more interesting and attractive. The automotive industry does this, the console games do this, even the computer industry (laptop, tablet, and desktop, for the most part) does this. Google has been trying to release a newer OS every year, and every year you can tell it is more and more rushed and has more and more issues.

While I agree completely that an upgrade every year is no longer worth it, the difference is (and I stated earlier) Samsung improves their devices every year; maybe the camera is a bit better, a feature is a bit better, etc. HTC has not gone this route and it is why they are failing.

As an example, one of the main weaknesses of the M8 was the camera. HTC did not improve it much, if at all, for the M9. Considering the jump in camera quality between the s5 and s6, that's a huge misstep by HTC.

Samsung may do small upgrades with each iteration, but they're still pushing forward. In the smartphone industry, you have to push forward, and unfortunately Apple's model has become the norm. Little upgrades with each iteration means people will still buy your devices especially in 3 key areas; camera, display, and build quality. Out of those 3, HTC has build quality down, the other two, I don't think they've made any improvement ever since the first generation of the One. (These are just the 3 key areas I think that the vast majority of people tend to look for in a smartphone.)

So for the M10 or whatever their next phone is going to be, HTC needs to step up and step up big time. Their drop also speaks volumes of the internal issues they have. Until they get whatever is going on behind the scenes sorted out, I don't believe they can push out a product that could turn their company around.

I'm not bashing on HTC, I think they made great devices. I heavily considered the M7 as my upgrade from my Galaxy Nexus, but decided to go with the s4 instead. I had a Droid Incredible and that one is easily one of my favorite phones despite the horrid battery life on it. It was a very quick device with great support in the ROM/root community. Not to mention it was one of the better looking devices I've ever owned.