HTC may have given up on mobile phones too early, VR may not be able to support the future

HTC, once a giant in the mobile phone industry, has gradually faded from the public eye after a series of setbacks in the mobile phone industry last year. Now negative news has come out again. On the evening of March 16, HTC announced plans to sell its mobile phone manufacturing factory in Shanghai and invest the proceeds of 630 million in the VR field. This move of HTC has once again attracted public attention. Since 2015, news of HTC's layoffs and factory sales has been reported many times. Although HTC officials have repeatedly denied it, the situation facing HTC is becoming more and more serious.

Is it wise for HTC to give up the mobile phone business too early?

Before the VR wave came, there was still a lot of room for development in the mobile phone field. In the past year, domestic mobile phone manufacturers have been thriving, and both large and small companies have achieved good results. Even some big-name manufacturers, such as Huawei, have shipped more than 100 million units in 2016, and OV followed closely behind, achieving a good result of 90 million units.

In terms of innovation, the mobile phone industry is still constantly emerging with new advantages. For example, Xiaomi's Mi MIX has successfully promoted the innovation direction of the future mobile phone field. International big-name mobile phone manufacturers, such as Apple and Samsung, have gradually begun to learn from domestic manufacturers. The mobile phone field is still the key development and research target of major brand manufacturers.

Even in recent years, new players have emerged, such as Hammer, LeTV, OnePlus and other emerging brands, which have performed well in the market and have achieved good sales with their respective advantages.

Today's mobile phone industry is still in full swing. With such a large market share, there are still many opportunities. As the old big brother of the Android camp, HTC is now in a hurry to sell buildings and factories, reduce or even withdraw from the mobile phone industry. Is it too early? Can't it make a fresh start, learn from the advantages of its peers, improve itself and make a comeback? Besides, didn't the once weak NOKIA return to the mobile phone field after experiencing a trough?

I think that facing HTC's ongoing losses year after year, it is not wise to lose another source of mobile phone revenue and turn to the unknown VR field. It is undoubtedly adding insult to injury. If this continues, I am afraid HTC will find it increasingly difficult.

VR: HTC's last straw, can it win back a game?

HTC currently has no advantage in the mobile phone market. For HTC, selling mobile phones is no longer a profitable business, but a constant increase in the company's debt pressure. Now HTC's mobile phone factory in Shanghai is about to be sold, and the proceeds will continue to be invested in VR research and development. As a result, HTC's VR industry will face tremendous pressure and is increasing.

HTC Chairman Wang Xuehong is quite optimistic about this. She said that VR will become a trillion-dollar industry in ten years. And the application market of VR will explode in the next two years. But it is hard to predict whether the future will be as Wang Xuehong said. At least VR still has a long way to go to replace mobile phones and become popular among the public.

By then, whether people are willing to wear an eye mask every day seems to be a question. After all, user habits are developed over a long period of time, and there seems to be a huge gap between "freeing hands" and "imprisoning eyes". Although it is difficult for us to predict the future trend correctly, there is no doubt that HTC still has a long way to go to successfully transform into VR.

Will HTC, once the leader in Android, repeat the mistakes of NOKIA?

Today, HTC has lived up to its former glory. However, the bad luck in recent years, coupled with the negative news of bad financial reports, declining operations and falling profits, has also made investors worried. Compared with the peak of 200 billion, the market value has shrunk by nearly 100 times. It is really a pity that such a good hand has ended up like this. It seems that HTC has also shown the shadow of its former big brother NOKIA.

Faced with the fiercely competitive mobile phone industry, HTC lacks unique innovation in mobile phones. Compared with Apple and Samsung, HTC's core technology is relatively weak, and it has never come up with a killer product that will amaze the market. Its models are single, and the appearance of the machines needs to be strengthened. It has no innovative advantages in software and hardware, and is always led by others. It does not even have an advantage in the hardware configuration of the body. It has turned a deaf ear to long-term user feedback, and has insisted on its own way on the road of decadence, gradually moving further and further away.

In the domestic market, HTC lost a large number of young users due to its lack of cost-effectiveness and its inability to compete with Xiaomi, Huawei, and OV. Coupled with the continuous deterioration of HTC's operating conditions, HTC's mobile phone market has been losing ground, and it can be said that it is facing internal and external troubles. HTC is no longer the leader in the Android camp.

In the field of VR, whether HTC can accurately grasp the future, fight a beautiful turnaround, and become the benchmark of the industry again seems to be unknown. After all, HTC is now facing internal and external troubles, and HTC's VR is also under too much pressure and mission. Moreover, whether VR can be accepted by the public in the future is still unknown, and HTC's gamble still makes people worry.

Given HTC's current slump, the failure of its mobile phone business seems to be a foregone conclusion, and the VR that HTC has vigorously developed is "commanded at the moment of defeat and in the midst of danger." HTC's future will only be one last fight. If HTC encounters another "Waterloo" in the VR field, it may be not far from the next Nokia. In the future, HTC may never recover, or it may be acquired by another giant.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.