Text: Crescent Moon
With the rise and development of the Internet, smartphones have become a must-have for everyone. According to the "China Mobile Internet Development Report (2021)" released by the People's Network Research Institute, as of the end of June 2021, the scale of mobile Internet users in China has reached 1.157 billion, and the average daily brushing time of each person is also as high as 5.8 hours, it can be said that mobile Internet users have become the mainstream users of China's Internet.
Such a huge user market is naturally the target of capital, and many mobile phone brand companies have emerged. Mobile phone brands such as Xiaomi and Huawei are loved by many people, however, in this big wave, many mobile phones that we were once familiar with, such as Gionee, Ericsson, LeTV, etc., have long disappeared, in addition to these There is also a once-well-known mobile phone is also "surviving", that is, HTC, which is known as the "Android King".
According to a report by consulting firm Nielsen, HTC ranked second among global smartphone makers in 2011 with a market share of 21 percent, behind Apple, which has a 29 percent market share. In the U.S. market, HTC's market share even surpassed Apple's in the third quarter of 2011. On April 6, 2011, HTC's stock price stood on the NT$1,200 round mark, and its market value soared to more than $33.5 billion, surpassing Nokia and RIM to become the world's second largest mobile phone manufacturer after Apple in terms of market capitalization, reaching a historical peak. I have to say that the former "Android brother" has obviously fallen off the "altar", which is lamentable!
As the "big brother" of the mobile phone industry, HTC was founded in 1997, in fact, the earliest HTC is not a mobile phone brand, but a company specializing in mobile phone FOUNDry, relying on the cheap and huge labor resources in mainland China, HTC once became the world's largest smart phone foundry. However, with the passage of time, HTC was no longer satisfied with OEM manufacturing, and in 2002, it gradually shifted its business focus and began to try to manufacture mobile phones.
Until 2008, HTC developed the G1 equipped with the Android system, becoming the world's first Android mobile phone, the configuration of this phone in the year "hanging" other brands, known as "high-end" synonymous, and HTC G1 also quickly gained a foothold in the market with this name. In the following years, HTC frequently launched a variety of mobile phones, such as HTC Hero, Legend G6D, HD2, etc., all of which achieved dazzling results.
According to IDC statistics, HTC mobile phone sales reached 43.5 million units in 2011, accounting for 9% of the global market share, ranking fifth in the world. With the popularity of mobile phones, HTC's market value exceeded 200 billion yuan, surpassing Nokia and BlackBerry, second only to Apple. It can be said that at that time, HTC was already the leader in the global mobile phone market.
However, HTC's peak period did not last long, and soon, various patent lawsuits put HTC in a situation of prosperity and decline. Apple took the lead in 2010, launching a patent war with HTC on the grounds that HTC's products were suspected of infringing two of Apple's patents, during which HTC's stock price was deeply affected, falling about 6.5%. Later, in 2012, Nokia also began to file a patent lawsuit against HTC, which eventually led to HTC-related products being banned in Europe and the United States, with heavy losses.
After losing the North American market, HTC lost the Korean and German markets one after another. Coupled with the rise of domestic mobile phone brands, a number of brands that focus on high cost performance have quietly "devoured" HTC's market share; in 2013, HTC suffered a net loss, which was the first loss since its listing in 2002, while the market share "shrank" to 2%. This is even worse for HTC, which is overpriced.
In 2017, IDC Research released data, and this year, HTC's global market share was only 0.68%, completely falling out of the top 10 smartphone brands. In order to "stop the loss in time", the head of HTC announced in 2018 that it would abandon all online channels, and HTC's loss in 2020 would reach 1.38 billion yuan, for this news, many people mistakenly thought that HCT was going to "go out of business".
But I never expected that HTC "fell on its heels" in the mobile phone market, but it developed in another new field. As early as the mobile phone business gradually declined, HTC's rulers have "found another way" and set their sights on the VR field. In 2015, HTC opened the door to VR with a virtual headset called "Vive."
After two years of development, HTC launched new products and "stunned" the VR market, and in 2018, HTC VR products sold 200,000 units worldwide, gradually forming a complete VR industry chain. According to HTC's 2019 annual report, its VR products have occupied 35.7% of the global market share, leaving Sony and Samsung behind and becoming the world's first that year.
Since then, HTC has successively launched new VR series products such as cosmos and pro eye, and after experiencing health events in 2020, HTC still maintains its leading position in the global market.
Obviously, HTC has a big loss in the mobile phone market, but fortunately, HTC has achieved great success in the VR market, occupying an important market share. According to IDC data, the size of China's VR market has reached 41.35 billion yuan, and it is expected that by 2023, the market size will exceed 100 billion yuan, reaching 105.16 billion yuan. That is to say, HTC will continue to "shine and heat" in the VR field in the future.
Now, HTC has a "place" in the VR industry, but HTC has not forgotten its main business. In January 2021, HTC unveiled the brand's first 5G phone and said it would continue to launch 5G phones in the future. However, in the year when 5G mobile phones are blooming, Whether HTC can regain its market is still unknown.
However, as a high-end noun endorsement, HTC hopes to bring surprises to consumers. If you master the "wealth password" of 5G mobile phones, perhaps HTC's market value is expected to return to the level of 100 billion, what do you think?