A Review of the History of the Taiwanese Smartphone Manufacturer
Taiwanese mobile phone maker HTC Corporation was founded in 1997 and enjoyed a brief but remarkable monopoly in the smartphone market. One of the leading smartphone brands in the world at one point, HTC was renowned for its creative designs and simple user interface.
Early HTC cellphones have QWERTY keyboards and Windows Mobile operating systems. In 2008, HTC Dream (also called T-Mobile G1) became the company’s first Android phone. Being the first smartphone to run Google’s Android operating system in a commercial setting, the device helped HTC establish itself as a significant participant in the Android ecosystem.
One of HTC’s most popular smartphones was the HTC One (M7), released in 2013. The device featured a sleek, all-metal design and a unique camera setup that included an “UltraPixel” sensor, which was designed to capture more light than traditional smartphone cameras. The HTC One (M7) was widely praised by critics and consumers alike, and it helped establish HTC as a premium smartphone brand.
Despite its early success, HTC began to struggle in the highly competitive smartphone market. The company faced stiff competition from Samsung and Apple, who dominated the high-end smartphone market, and from Chinese manufacturers like Xiaomi and Huawei, who offered affordable, feature-rich smartphones.
In an effort to turn things around, HTC released a number of new smartphones, including the HTC 10, the HTC U11, and the HTC U12+. While these devices were well-received by critics, they failed to gain significant market share.
In 2018, HTC announced that it would be laying off a quarter of its workforce in an effort to cut costs. The company also announced that it would be focusing more on its virtual reality business, which had shown promising growth with the release of the HTC Vive headset.
HTC still makes smartphones and virtual reality headsets today, although its share of the smartphone industry has decreased. The HTC U20 5G, the company’s most recent smartphone, was introduced in 2020 and had a mixed reception.
Even while HTC isn’t as big of a participant in the smartphone market as it once was, its heritage continues. The business was in charge of creating some of the most avant-garde and well-known smartphones of the last ten years and was crucial to the growth of the Android ecosystem. Even if HTC is no longer leading the smartphone market, its contributions to the sector will always be valued.