This is turning out to be a very bad year for HTC

Last year’s HTC One (M8) was one of the sexiest smartphones ever released, and many had hoped that the device’s successor would be similarly impressive. Unfortunately, HTC took those hopes quite literally, and the One M9 bore too many similarities to its predecessor for most people’s liking. Nobody likes repetition. This, paired with competition from the Galaxy S6 and iPhone 6, have turned 2015 into a very bad year for HTC, at least as far as profits and sales are concerned. 

The price of HTC shares has been sliding ever since early March, when the Taiwanese company unveiled the One M9 to frosty reception. Today, HTC shares hit a new low after the company announced it expects a loss for the quarter ending this month, due to lower than expected sales and a one-time write-off of “idled assets.” HTC now expects to record a net loss of TW$7.95 billion ($257 million) to TW$9.05 billion ($291 million) for the quarter ending June 30. Revenue is expected to be in the range of TW$33 billion to TW$36 billion. That compares to TW$41.5 billion revenue for the previous quarter. HTC’s revised prediction for this quarter is 30 percent lower than the previous estimate. The phone maker blamed poor sales and intense competition for this dramatic cut. “The change for revenue outlook is due to slower demand for high-end Android devices, and weaker than forecast sales in China, while gross margin is revised primarily on product mix change and lowered scale. At the same time, increased competition has raised operating costs for product promotion; HTC is enacting measures to further improve operating efficiency.”