Earlier this week HTC‘s mobile business reported its unaudited revenue for the month of October 2017, and unfortunately, despite its efforts surrounding the HTC U11 flagship, it appears that the company continues to lose ground as revenues decline on a monthly and yearly basis. HTC’s entire revenue from January to October 2017 topped NT$ 52.44 billion ($1.75 billion) representing an 18.18 percent decrease compared to the same period of time a year ago, and throughout October 2017 alone HTC’s revenue was down 6.86 percent compared to the previous month, amounting to NT$ 6.06 billion ($200 million) down from NT$ 6.51 billion ($215 million).
In addition, compared to the NT$ 8.1 billion ($268 million) in revenues registered in October 2016, HTC experienced a 25.79 percent year-over-year decline. This is despite the fact that this year’s flagship phone – the HTC U11 – was reportedly securing better sales than the previous premium smartphone models including the HTC 10 and HTC One M9. Nevertheless, the company hasn’t given up on the smartphone market segment and it just recently unveiled two new models based on the U11, namely the HTC U11 Plus and U11 Life. These products which are set to hit the shelves before the end of the year will hopefully leave a positive mark on the company’s revenue in the coming months, however it’s worth noting that as yet, HTC doesn’t seem to have any plans on bringing the U11 Plus model into the United States, which in turn could hurt the flagship’s sales figures in the longer run.
HTC has been battling with declining revenues for years now despite its efforts to create unique features and experiences that would set its products apart from most of its rivals. In August 2017 the company’s consolidated revenues have hit a 13-year low, and shortly after, new reports of Google possibly acquiring HTC’s smartphone business re-emerged. This hasn’t entirely come to pass, but earlier in September Google did acquire part of HTC’s smartphone team along with non-exclusive intellectual property rights for the sum of $1.1 billion. It’s not entirely clear how the Taiwanese tech company will move forward beyond the release of the HTC U11 Plus and U11 Life, but hopefully, these two devices will contribute to a more positive financial outcome in early 2018.