New owner for smartphone manufacturer HTC?

Taiwanese technology company HTC may be looking for a new owner as competition is becoming stronger. The company is now looking for options to raise funds for a battle plan.

Split off VR

One of the solutions is for an investor to take over the company, but there are other options: it may also sell or split off its virtual reality division. In collaboration with software company Valve, it developed a VR headset, called Vive. The headset has become so successful, the brand has basically become its own brand.

HTC’s market value is about 1.8 billion dollars (1.5 billion euro), down from 7.2 billion dollars (6 billion euro) five years ago – as it never managed to capture a market share in the smartphone industry surpassing 2 %.

Despite its small size, HTC was an important player in the smartphone industry: it signed a deal with Microsoft in 2002, to put its Windows operating system on to its smartphones, and it also powered the very first Android smartphone in 2008.

However, nowadays it has to deal with a whole range of competitors, from Samsung to Apple. These all have such overwhelming market shares that other competitors in the higher echelons of the market are struggling to get noticed. The cheaper, mostly Chinese, brands are also becoming increasingly popular.