HTC pins turnaround hopes on flagship ‘One’
Mobile World Congress: Taiwanese mobile company HTC has launched a flagship range of premium smartphones that focus on music and photos as it looks to repeat its early success and keep pace with high-end rivals Samsung and Apple.
The HTC One series, which was unveiled at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona last night (26 February), features an enhanced camera and advanced music functions, utilising the company’s ownership of Beats audio for its phones´speakers, to attract premium consumers and early technology adopters.
The phones can also be connected to any TV set via an HDMI port to view photos and videos, a function its competitors such as Sony and Apple only allow on their own-branded devices.
More than 140 global mobile operators have agreed to carry the range so far, the widest ever support from networks for an HTC device in its history.
While HTC enjoyed a meteoric rise to success in 2010 and 2011 due to producing popular flagship devices such as the Desire at low price points, it has suffered by not offering the kind of premium smartphones that have seen Apple and Samsung dominate the smartphone sector.
HTC´s revenue slipped 2.5% year on year to NT$101bn in its fourth quarter and the company warned earlier this month that revenue could fall as much as 36% in its first quarter of 2012.
