As we all know, with the continuous improvement of 5G technology, more and more 5G mobile phones have also been born, according to the statistics of the authoritative agency Canalys, a total of about 240 million 5G mobile phones were shipped worldwide in the first half of 2021, and the proportion of 5G accounted for 36% of all mobile phone shipments in the world. Among them, the mobile phone with the highest shipment volume in the world is the Apple mobile phone, while China's OPPO mobile phone becomes the second with 34.402 million units of shipments, and OPPO has become the mobile phone brand with the highest shipment in the 5G mobile phone equipped with the Android system.
In fact, oppo mobile phones can achieve such results, the main reason is because as a domestic mobile phone, it has been supported by most consumers. With the support of many consumers, many mobile phone manufacturers have also developed, which has also enhanced the fierce competition in the mobile phone market, which has led to many companies, and began to lose their previous dominance in the mobile phone business. Among them, the most obvious is HTC.
Fade out of the mobile phone industry market
According to official information, as early as May 1997, HTC was founded by Wang Xuehong and others. However, the original HTC was not a mobile phone business, the main business is the handheld computer.
Until 2002, HTC gradually adjusted the business direction to the mobile phone industry, and this year, HTC developed and produced the world's first PDA Phone equipped with Microsoft systems, this model also attracted most of the telecom operators from Europe, and signed a large number of orders, since then, HTC has slowly developed into the world's largest Win Mobile foundry.
However, for HTC, just becoming a mobile phone foundry may not have reached its goal. Subsequently, in 2008, HTC launched the first self-brand Android smartphone HTC G1, it is worth mentioning that the model is also the world's first smartphone equipped with android system, and HTC G1 also quickly gained a foothold in the market with this name.
In the following years, HTC has frequently launched a variety of mobile phones, such as HTC hero, Legend G6D, HD2, etc. According to relevant statistics, HTC mobile phone sales in 2011 exceeded 43 million units, the company's market value exceeded 200 billion yuan, and the market value ranked second only to Apple in the world.
However, in the same year, because some models were banned from sale in parts of the Americas, HTC's mobile phone business began to decline, losing its position in the first market share.
In addition, only one year later, HTC lost the competitiveness of the European and American markets because of the performance of Apple and Samsung in Europe and the United States, and looking at the domestic mobile phone market at that time, it has also been divided by many domestic brands such as Xiaomi and Huawei, it can be said that whether it is domestic or foreign, HTC's mobile phone business is facing a huge challenge.
Relevant data show that in 2020, HTC's annual shipments will only be 470,000 units, and HTC will adjust the official community of mobile phones to a closed state. Therefore, this also creates an illusion for many consumers, "As a generation of mobile phone giants, now that the business is sluggish, is it about to go out of business"?
Another area to achieve industry first
In fact, according to relevant information, HTC noticed the limitation of the development of mobile phone business as early as 2015, so it began to gradually shift its energy to the VR field. In the same year, HTC also developed and produced the first VR product and put it on the market. In the following years, HTC also launched a number of VR headset devices.
Finally, in 2019, HTC surpassed electronic technology manufacturers such as Sony and Samsung with a market share of 35.7%, becoming the first place in the VR industry. Moreover, relevant agencies also predict that by 2022, HTC's VR product shipments may reach 65.9 million units, becoming a leader in the VR field.
In May 2021, HTC officially announced the launch of two new VR products at the conference event: Vive Focus 3 and Vive Pro 2, both of which reached 5K resolution. According to data released by HTC, revenue reached 153 million yuan in June. Obviously, the launch of new products has also brought profits to HTC.
At present, 5G technology has developed relatively maturely, and many mobile phone manufacturers have also launched a large number of new smart phones with 5G technology as a selling point, so we do not know whether HTC will re-focus on the development of mobile phone business.
However, for the VR industry, the recent rapid popularity of the concept of "meta-universe" may also usher in a new stage of development for the VR industry. This may also be an opportunity for HTC to develop the VR field.