Let’s face it, as great as HTC’s phones once was, the company’s more recent endeavors haven’t really been met too favorably, especially in the light of Chinese companies who are aggressively releasing cheaper and more value for money handsets. So much so that HTC could be considering calling it quits.
In a report from ET BrandEquity, they cite “three senior industry executives” who claim that HTC might be looking to lessen the production burden on themselves by licensing out its brand. This is namely aimed at the Indian market where the company is apparently hoping to make a return, and are said to be in talks with local companies such as Micromax, Lava, and Karbonn.
According to one of the execs, “Since HTC used to operate in the Rs 10,000-plus segment, the brand will help the Indian smartphone makers re-enter this price segment, which is now the fastest-growing with intense competition among Xiaomi, Samsung, Oppo and Vivo.” HTC’s decision would not be a new one as we have seen other handset makers adopt a similar approach.
For example TCL now makes BlackBerry phones, while HMD Global makes Nokia’s handsets, so for HTC to start licensing out its brand wouldn’t be surprising. However as we said, this seems to be mostly targeting the Indian market so it is unclear if this strategy is expected to apply to other markets as well, so it’s probably best to take it with a grain of salt.
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