{"id":213200,"date":"2016-05-10T13:00:40","date_gmt":"2016-05-10T13:00:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=213200"},"modified":"2016-05-10T13:00:40","modified_gmt":"2016-05-10T13:00:40","slug":"htc-sales-plunge-pushes-firm-to-a-loss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2016\/05\/htc-sales-plunge-pushes-firm-to-a-loss\/","title":{"rendered":"HTC sales plunge pushes firm to a loss"},"content":{"rendered":"
A sharp plunge in sales has pushed the Taiwanese phonemaker HTC into a loss for the three months to March.<\/p>\n
Revenue for the first quarter dropped 64% to 14.8bn Taiwanese dollars ($456m; \u00a3315m), while the net loss was 2.6bn Taiwanese dollars, compared with a profit the year before.<\/p>\n
The firm has been struggling to compete with the likes of Apple and Samsung.<\/p>\n
It is pinning hopes on its new HTC 10 phone to revive fortunes as well as its virtual reality headset Vive.<\/p>\n
“The media and consumer buzz around HTC, including for the keenly-awaited launches of the flagship smartphone and Vive virtual reality system, clearly demonstrate our leadership in innovation and have provided a great boost to the HTC brand,” said Cher Wang, chairwoman and chief executive of HTC in a statement.<\/p>\n
Chief financial officer Chialin Chang added the company was hoping that the smartphone business would break even in the third quarter.<\/p>\n
The HTC 10, which comes with an “ultraselfie” front camera designed to reduce the risk of blurry shots, and the Vive headset were both only launched in April and so are not reflected in this current quarter.<\/p>\n