HTC Corp (宏達電) expects double-digit annual revenue growth from its home market on expectation that its first entry-level 4G smartphone is set to drive momentum, a company executive said yesterday.
“We plan to release our first entry-level 4G smartphone in the first quarter to complete our product lines in Taiwan,” HTC North Asia president Jack Tong (董俊良) told reporters on the sidelines of an HTC Desire 820 single-SIM card smartphone launch.
Together with HTC’s first lower-cost 3G smartphone, the Desire 620, HTC’s first lower-cost 4G smartphone would “certainly” boost the firm’s sales next quarter, Tong said.
Tong said HTC’s mid-to-high-priced Desire Eye also showed strong sales momentum since its debut in the domestic market, adding that the company predicts the momentum to extend to next year.
“By introducing the Desire 820 single-SIM smartphone, we believe the mid-tier smartphone segment will see an obvious year-on-year revenue growth in the first quarter,” Tong said.
Apart from HTC’s smartphone segment, its first action camera, the HTC RE, also showed robust momentum locally, Tong said.
HTC expects to sell a total of 20,000 HTC RE units by the end of this year, he said.
“The company foresees strong HTC RE sales to carry into next year, thanks to the upcoming Lunar New Year holidays,” Tong said.
HTC also plans to expand its sales channels to the Internet from brick-and-mortar stores to offer lower-cost smartphones.
Revenue contribution from e-commerce grew from single-digit percentages at the beginning of the year to double-digit percentages now, Tong said.
Separately, Tong said Apple Inc’s new iPhone 6 smartphone series has only had a limited impact on sales of the high-end HTC One (M8).
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