Will expand mid-range and entry-level smartphone portfolio this year
HTC has finally realised the importance of entry-level smartphones and plans to expand its budget line-up this year.
The company chairwoman Cher Wang told Reuters in an interview that they missed out on the budget phones last year and were too obsessed with HTC One.
“The problem with us last year was we only concentrated on our flagship. We missed a huge chunk of the mid-tier market,” Wang told Reuters. She promised to release both flagship and entry-level devices this year.
Cher Wang noted that HTC will release phones priced between $150 and $300 to cater to the entry-level segment, which has long been ignored both the company. I can personally count the number of budget Android phones released by HTC in the last few years. The company was too premium for its own good and it is finally accepting the fact.
Wang however revealed to Reuters that they won’t go too cheap – the very-very low-end market. Well, nobody expect them to come and start fighting with Micromax or Karbonn but at least they can have a couple of smartphones like Moto G.
Specifications of HTC One mini successor leaked
In related news, the specifications of the alleged One mini successor have leaked online. Shared by @evleaks, these specs reveal that HTC M8 mini will keep some of the specifications from the last year’s model but will improve the rest.
HTC M8 mini (mem_ul): SD400 (1.4GHz x4), 4.5″, 720p, 1GB/16GB (+microSD), 13MP/5MP, a/b/g/n/ac, BT4.0, KK4.4.2, Sense6.0, buttons on screen.
— @evleaks (@evleaks) February 8, 2014
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The phone will come with a bigger 4.5-inch 720p HD display, 1.4GHz quad-core Snapdragon 400 processor, 1GB of RAM, and 16GB of storage. It will also pack 13MP rear camera, 5MP front camera, Android 4.4.2 and Sense 6.0.
While these rumoured specifications look decent, everything will depend on the pricing. Apart from the cameras, all these specs are same as Moto G. So, if HTC goes all premium pricing for M8 Mini, there is no way, the phone is going to succeed. It needs to get aggressive and release the phone around INR 16-18,000.
True, pricing is the key. Hope HTC realizes it soon.
Wow! It took them a century to realize this simple fact.
common someone has to loose money it was black berry first then Nokia now HTC let them price how they want Indians are smart when it comes to tech 🙂
Sony fails to strive in PC business simply b’coz of the fact those designed Vaios are not viable in downing PC market. Same happens to HTC. Even when HTC will bring mid range phones, it will be washed off from the market due to Motorola or upcoming Jio 4G’s phones.
???? ??? ?? ?? ?? HTC-? ???????? ?? ???, ??? ?? ???? ?????? ???? pricing-?? ????
As long as they price their products right, it will work. If however they keep putting margins ahead of sales, they’ll fade away just like Sony did from the PC market.
Also, it doesn’t help matters when you stop updating your phones after just 18 months or so. Better pricing and timely updates will go a long way in ensuring that HTC doesn’t go the VAIO way.
I know that I’ll rather buy VFM Motorolas or even Samsungs and LG’s ahead of overpriced HTC’s 🙂
HTC’s Moto G will be like this:
4-inch qvga screen
512 MB RAM
1GHz dual Core Processor
KitKat
for
10K