Martin Fichter, product executive at HTC, claims that there will not be another Beat by Dr Dre headphones thrown alongside an HTC smartphone in the near future, which would be a change in tune after three smartphones from HTC were released that featured a set of Beats headphones alongside – the HTC Sensation XE, Sensation XL and Rezound. Do bear in mind that the HTC Sensation XE remained a limited edition handset, while the Sensation XL and Rezound were marketed as flagship devices, although they did not really manage to capture the imagination of the masses as HTC originally intended. In fact, HTC has not been doing too well with their latest earnings reports, and this might be one of the reasons why HTC could potentially decide to scrap including a pair of Beats headphones as claimed by Martin.
According to Martin, “An accessory like the headphone doesn’t factor in when someone is buying a smartphone. If they want a Beats headphone, they’ll buy it directly.” The whole idea of including an accessory that does not really appeal to the user can be seen as a waste of money on behalf of the purchaser’s part, as they would very much prefer a slightly cheaper device and use that money saved to purchase a pair of headphones of their choice.