Smartphone maker HTC Corp (宏達電) saw consumer awareness of its brand decline last month in China, where its most popular model, the Butterfly, has yet to officially hit stores, according to US brokerage Morgan Stanley.
HTC’s mindshare — a measure of consumer brand awareness — fell to 7.9 percent last month from 9.2 percent in the previous month, dropping it to fifth place from second in November, Morgan Stanley said in a report on Wednesday.
“HTC’s ranking dropped out of the top three with the biggest share lost owing to the lack of a flagship model, which might not come as a surprise given that the HTC Butterfly is not yet available through most channels in China,” Morgan Stanley analyst Jasmine Lu (呂智穎) said in the report.
Among other global brands, Apple Inc’s mindshare rose from 8.6 percent in November last year to 9.1 percent last month thanks to the official launch of the iPhone 5, placing it second behind Samsung Electronics Co’s 20.3 percent, Morgan Stanley’s data showed.
Finnish handset maker Nokia Oyj enjoyed the biggest gain among global brands of 0.8 percentage points, pushing its mindshare to third in the rankings at 8.4 percent.
The company’s new Windows 8-powered Lumia 920 is being sold through China Mobile Ltd (中國移動), the country’s largest telecoms operator.
Among Chinese brands, Lenovo Group Ltd (聯想) closed its mindshare gap with Samsung, Apple and Nokia to rank fourth, backed by broader distribution and competitive pricing for its flagship models.
Ray Yam (任偉光), president of HTC China, said in November last year that HTC would start to benefit this year from its patent settlement with rival Apple as the company focuses greater efforts on product innovation.
Many of HTC’s projects have started to proceed at a faster pace, and the Taoyuan-based company has changed the way it negotiates with telecoms operators, Yam said in an interview with China’s Economic Observer.
China Mobile president Li Yue (李躍) visited Taiwan last week for a summit on cooperation in 4G technology, which could bring new business opportunities for local manufacturers, analysts said.
Among the local tech heavyweights Li was expected to call on were HTC chairperson Cher Wang (王雪紅), Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) chairman Morris Chang (張忠謀), Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) chairman Terry Gou (郭台銘) and MediaTek Inc (聯發科) chairman Tsai Ming-kai (蔡明介).
WEAKER ACTIVITY: The sharpest deterioration was seen in the electronics and optical components sector, with the production index falling 13.2 points to 44.5 Taiwan’s manufacturing sector last month contracted for a second consecutive month, with the purchasing managers’ index (PMI) slipping to 48, reflecting ongoing caution over trade uncertainties, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. The decline reflects growing caution among companies amid uncertainty surrounding US tariffs, semiconductor duties and automotive import levies, and it is also likely linked to fading front-loading activity, CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) said. “Some clients have started shifting orders to Southeast Asian countries where tariff regimes are already clear,” Lien told a news conference. Firms across the supply chain are also lowering stock levels to mitigate
Six Taiwanese companies, including contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), made the 2025 Fortune Global 500 list of the world’s largest firms by revenue. In a report published by New York-based Fortune magazine on Tuesday, Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), ranked highest among Taiwanese firms, placing 28th with revenue of US$213.69 billion. Up 60 spots from last year, TSMC rose to No. 126 with US$90.16 billion in revenue, followed by Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) at 348th, Pegatron Corp (和碩) at 461st, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) at 494th and Wistron Corp (緯創) at
NEW PRODUCTS: MediaTek plans to roll out new products this quarter, including a flagship mobile phone chip and a GB10 chip that it is codeveloping with Nvidia Corp MediaTek Inc (聯發科) yesterday projected that revenue this quarter would dip by 7 to 13 percent to between NT$130.1 billion and NT$140 billion (US$4.38 billion and US$4.71 billion), compared with NT$150.37 billion last quarter, which it attributed to subdued front-loading demand and unfavorable foreign exchange rates. The Hsinchu-based chip designer said that the forecast factored in the negative effects of an estimated 6 percent appreciation of the New Taiwan dollar against the greenback. “As some demand has been pulled into the first half of the year and resulted in a different quarterly pattern, we expect the third quarter revenue to decline sequentially,”
RESHAPING COMMERCE: Major industrialized economies accepted 15 percent duties on their products, while charges on items from Mexico, Canada and China are even bigger US President Donald Trump has unveiled a slew of new tariffs that boosted the average US rate on goods from across the world, forging ahead with his turbulent effort to reshape international commerce. The baseline rates for many trading partners remain unchanged at 10 percent from the duties Trump imposed in April, easing the worst fears of investors after the president had previously said they could double. Yet his move to raise tariffs on some Canadian goods to 35 percent threatens to inject fresh tensions into an already strained relationship, while nations such as Switzerland and New Zealand also saw increased
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