Smartphone vendor HTC Corp (宏達電) yesterday launched four new mid-end smartphone models to boost sales as demand for high-end smartphones stagnated.
“The smartphone market has come to a relatively mature stage where the product cycle is getting shorter than ever,” HTC Greater China region president Jack Tong (董俊良) told reporters on the sidelines of a product launch event.
To cope with this trend, “HTC needs to launch more products to cater to consumer needs,” Tong said.
Commenting on HTC’s competitor Xiaomi Corp (小米), which is set to sell its new Red Rice smartphone at a price of NT$3,999 next month, Tong said: “Every brand adopts a different business model and pricing strategy.”
Regarding HTC’s new products, Fubon Securities Co (富邦證券) analyst Ange Wu (吳淵傑) yesterday said by telephone that “HTC made a wise decision in selecting four processor suppliers.”
The four newly launched models are equipped with chips from Qualcomm Inc, Broadcom Corp, ST-Ericsson and Spreadtrum Communications Inc (展訊通信), showing that HTC was able to develop products on various platforms, but also proves the company’s awareness of risk control,” Wu said.
Commenting at Xiaomi’s offices, Wu said Xiaomi’s Red Rice smartphone is much more affordable to consumers, but it is still possible for HTC to increase its shares in the mid-tier smartphone market if the company continues collaborating with Chinese telecom operators.
Currently, HTC only partners with China’s largest telecom China Mobile Ltd (中國移動) to sell its One smartphone series.
The Taoyuan-based company is still in discussions with China Unicom Ltd (中國聯通) and China Telecom Corp Ltd (中國電信), China’s second and third-largest telecoms, to sell its mid-end products, Wu said.
HTC’s new smartphones carry price tags ranging from NT$7,900 to NT$13,900 and will hit the market next month.
Consumers can also get the smartphones at lower prices ranging from NT$990 to NT$4,990, bundling service packages from Taiwan’s three largest telecom Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信), Taiwan Mobile Co (台灣大哥大) and Far EasTone Telecommunications Co (遠傳電信).
Shares in Taiwan closed at a new high yesterday, the first trading day of the new year, as contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) continued to break records amid an artificial intelligence (AI) boom, dealers said. The TAIEX closed up 386.21 points, or 1.33 percent, at 29,349.81, with turnover totaling NT$648.844 billion (US$20.65 billion). “Judging from a stronger Taiwan dollar against the US dollar, I think foreign institutional investors returned from the holidays and brought funds into the local market,” Concord Securities Co (康和證券) analyst Kerry Huang (黃志祺) said. “Foreign investors just rebuilt their positions with TSMC as their top target,
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