Despite HTC continuing the own the bragging rights to being one of the biggest names in VR and smartphone spaces, that still does not alleviate the financial hurdles the company has been struggling with since last year.
This past week carried more changes, as Digital Trends reported HTC layoffs in their US offices, as well as a merging of their smartphone and VR divisions. This comes on the heel of Chailin Chang’s resignation as president of HTC, and according to DT, as many as 100 people could have been fired. Amidst dwindling smartphone sales, we take a look at the state of HTC’s virtual reality business.
Fortunately, things aren’t as bleak for the company. The HTC Vive (and its offshoots, like the Focus and the Pro) are leading the virtual reality industry in sales numbers, developer support and hardware power. By combining its smartphone and VR divisions, HTC seems to want to make the most of their layoffs by pooling their resources. What this means for the future of the Vive series is unclear, but the hope is that it translates to a renewed focus on VR development and advancement.
Whether the rumored HTC U12 can recover the company’s declining pattern of smartphone sales is yet to be seen. The questions we should be asking in the meantime is how long can HTC’s VR division pick up the slack?
