HTC won't make cheap phones any more

HTC will stop manufacturing entry-level smartphones this year, the company announced in its earning call earlier this week. 

According to Phonescoop, HTC said it will continue to sell and support the cheaper handsets already available, but focus on high-margin devices going forward.

HTC citied the lower profitability and hefty competition in the low-cost phone space as predominant reasons from moving away from it. From our perspective, this makes a lot of sense, given that Chinese manufacturers like OPPO, Huawei, and Xiaomi have all managed to outgun HTC when it comes for bang-for-buck devices in the affordable smartphone arena.

The Taiwanese manufacturer will continue to make high-end and midrange smartphones, and expects to release between six and seven throughout 2017. The first two of these will be the recently announced HTC U Ultra and HTC U Play.

Alex Choros

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Alex Choros is the Managing Editor of WhistleOut Australia and an award-winning journalist. He's been writing about consumer technology for over a decade and is an expert on the Australian telco sector, to the point where he knows far too many phone and internet plans by heart. In addition to leading the WhistleOut editorial team, Alex is responsible for ruining the office Sonos with his troubled taste in music.

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