HTC has just announced that the company’s President of Smartphone and Connected Devices Business, Chialin Chang, is leaving the company. Mr. Chang has joined HTC back in April 2012, and he was first positioned as the company’s CFO (Chief Financial Officer). A reason for Mr. Chang’s resignation is a ‘personal career plan’, at least that’s what HTC says. HTC did not mention who could replace Mr. Chang, but chances are that the company will announce its new President of Smartphone in the near future.
Mr. Chang’s departure may be surprising to some of you, but considering HTC’s poor performance in the smartphone sector, that is not much of a surprise in general. HTC actually lost around $103 million in Q3 2017, according to the latest info, which was the company’s tenth consecutive quarterly loss. It is also worth noting that HTC did let go of its Pixel team recently, as Google basically acquired a part of HTC that has been making Pixel devices for the Mountain View giant, and that could also be connected to Mr. Chang’s departure in some way. In any case, HTC needs to find a way to revive its smartphone business, as these constant losses in the smartphone department are definitely not good for the company, and even though HTC can push through it, chances are that the company will be looking for a way to turn things around, as they have been thus far. Mr. Chang’s resignation may end up being good for the company, as some changes are definitely needed, so it remains to be seen what step will HTC take next, in other words, who will replace Chialin Chang.
HTC won’t be announcing its new flagship at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, which will start later this month. The company is actually expected to introduce the HTC U12, or whatever it ends up naming the device, later on, during a separate event. The HTC U12 may arrive in March or April, or even May, depending on what time frame HTC opts for. The device will probably resemble the HTC U11 Plus to some extent, though it’s expected to sport thinner bezels. Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 845 64-bit octa-core SoC is expected to fuel the HTC U12, while the phone will probably ship with stereo speakers, and a high-end spec sheet.