HTC recently posted its unaudited financial results for September, revealing that it expects to see a revenue increase of approximately 117 percent over the 30-day period compared to August. The Taoyuan, Taiwan-based original equipment manufacturer hence estimated its September 2017 revenue at $6.51 billion New Taiwan Dollars, which translates to around $215 million and marks a significant increase compared to the $99.2 million figure posted by the company in August. The improved performance is understood to be prompted by Google’s Pixel 2 lineup, half of which was designed and manufactured by HTC. Despite the short-term revenue jump, the company’s unaudited results show a 30 percent annual decline in revenue, also likely related to the Pixel flagships seeing how the original series was entirely produced by the Taiwanese tech giant, hence being a more lucrative endeavor for HTC. The firm’s audited financials for September will be published as part of its upcoming consolidated financial report for Q3 2017.
The company’s recent tie-up with Google didn’t affect its September performance seeing how their newly announced $1.1 billion deal won’t be closed until early 2018. HTC is expected to primarily use the cash influx to support its virtual reality unit even though the firm officially isn’t pulling out of the smartphone market for the time being. Despite posting disappointing results in the handset segment in recent times, HTC is still seeking to deliver Android devices, but those efforts may become more difficult in the near future seeing how approximately 2,000 of its engineers are going to Google as part of its pending deal with the Mountain View, California-based internet giant. The product relationship between HTC and Google may continue going forward and there’s a chance Alphabet’s subsidiary commissions HTC for manufacturing (one of) the Pixel 3 smartphones next year.
In the near term, HTC will be seeking to build on the U11 flagship with the rumored U11 Plus, another Android flagship that should succeed the majority of the U11’s internal hardware but adopt a relatively bezel-free design which is in line with contemporary mobile industry practices, according to recent reports. The HTC U11 Plus is said to be launching in November and should be available for purchase in various parts of the world by this year’s holiday season, traditionally the most lucrative period of the year for consumer electronics makers.