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Struggling Taiwanese device maker talks up health monitoring, virtual reality prospects as revenue plummets.
HTC reported heavy fourth-quarter losses on Wednesday, as it continues to struggle in the highly-competitive smartphone sector.
The Taiwan-based device maker generated revenue of NT$25.7 billion (€693.72 million) during the three months to 31 December, up sequentially from NT$21.4 billion, but down 46.3% year-on-year.
"Our flagship [smartphone] did not perform well," admitted HTC finance chief Chialin Chang, during the company’s quarterly investor call, a transcript of which appeared on Seeking Alpha.
HTC swung to a fourth quarter net loss of NT$3.4 billion (€91.8m), compared to a year-earlier profit of NT$500 million.
HTC is in the midst of a restructuring aimed at making its smartphones more competitive and broadening its focus to include connected devices and virtual reality.
"Leveraging our core strengths of design, engineering and manufacturing excellence, our evolution into virtual reality and connected devices has positioned us as innovation leader in each sector," said HTC CEO Cher Wang.
At last month’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES), HTC launched a fitness-tracking device in partnership with sportswear firm Under Armour, called the HealthBox. HTC is also still working on its Vive virtual reality system in partnership with PC gaming giant Valve.
"We are fully confident in delivering on our promise to enable consumers to pursue their own brilliance across all of our product groups," Wang said.
