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HTC smartphone president Chialin Chang has resigned
Not long after letting go of its Pixel team in exchange for some much needed cash from Google, HTC is now also losing its smartphone lead. Chialin Chang, who joined the company as CFO back in April 2012, has immediately resigned as the President of Smartphone and Connected Devices Business due to "personal career plan," according to HTC. There's no word on who will take over this role, which basically means more work for Chairwoman and CEO Cher Wang until she finds a replacement, if any.
HTC will make a 'noteworthy' return to dual-camera phones in 2018
Shortly after showing off the squeezable U11+ in Taipei today, HTC President Chialin Chang confirmed that his company is re-entering the dual-camera smartphone space in 2018. "We'll definitely be releasing a dual-camera phone next year, but we'll need to figure out how to make this feature stand out," the exec told the media in an interview session. Folks who are familiar with HTC's history will no doubt be amused by this move. Its EVO 3D was one of the first smartphones equipped with a dual-camera system, but after the short-lived mobile 3D hype, the Taiwanese firm eventually started championing its pseudo-depth-sensing "Duo Camera" to offer bokeh photo effects on two generations of flagship devices. Ironically, just as HTC decided to ditch the dual camera for the 10, the likes of LG, Huawei, Xiaomi and even Apple started pushing this feature.
HTC will intro half as many smartphones this year
HTC may have taken a bolder approach in the smartphone world with its new U Ultra and U Play, but it's decided to play it safe with its roadmap for the rest of the year. After today's launch event in Taipei, I caught up with President of Smartphone and Connected Devices Business, Chialin Chang, who confirmed that HTC will only be releasing six to seven smartphones this year. While that's a drastic cut from last year's eleven to twelve models, he claims this has so far allowed the company to focus on its smartphones' core features, in a bid to put up a better fight against other brands.
HTC: the One is selling better than last year's hero products, but next quarter may see a loss
HTC's unaudited results for Q2 2013 showed a sign of hope, but in today's call for the Q3 guidance, the Taiwanese company expects next quarter's revenue to be in the range of $1.67 billion to $2 billion, with an operating profit of anything from $0 down to... well, a margin of -minus 8 percent, which would equate to a horrible loss. This is also a notable drop from last year's $2.4 billion revenue and $168 million operating profit. CEO Peter Chou blames this decline on the higher cost structure (bill of materials and operating costs) and the clearance of aged inventory in the channel, but he hopes that Q3 will be the bottom in terms of HTC's profitability. CFO Chialin Chang added that his team has a few actions in place to help restore the company to profitability very soon.
