HTC is hoping to grow its base of U.S. mobile users by slashing the price of its new flagship by $100 through July.
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HTC 10 |
The Taiwanese vendor said U.S. consumers can buy the HTC 10 for $599 from its website through the end of the month. HTC is also offering $100 credit for accessories excluding those built for its Vive headset "with proof of HTC 10 purchase from any retailer/channel."
The phone is available for users of Verizon, T-Mobile and Sprint; HTC also sells an unlocked version.
HTC introduced its latest flagship in April, and the handset has garnered impressive reviews. It features a 5.2-inch Quad HD Super LCD 5 display with 564 ppi pixel density, a 12-megapixel rear-facing camera and Qualcomm's Snapdragon 820 processor. It runs Android 6 with HTC Sense, but the carrier's latest version of its Android wrapper reportedly features less bloatware than previous editions.
The HTC 10 is competing against a new wave of high-end phones that includes the LG G5, Huawei P9 and Samsung's Galaxy S7, which has been extremely successful. HTC hasn't released sales figures for its new phone, and the price cut may be an indication that sales have failed to live up to expectations in an ultra-competitive worldwide smartphone market. And the company has surely been hindered by the lack of support from AT&T -- the nation's second-largest mobile carrier was the only major U.S. operator that didn't sell the HTC 10 at launch, and the phone still isn't available from AT&T's website.
Like some competitors, HTC has been particularly hard-hit in China, a once-booming market that is now flooded with Android devices and where penetration rates have begun to flatten. HTC was dropped from the main stock index in its home market in September, and it cut jobs last August after posting a disappointing second quarter. The company had hoped to receive a boost from the release of two new models in the second half of 2015, but it didn't rank among IDC's top five smartphone vendors worldwide in the fourth quarter of last year.
Phone Arena said last week that a new report from TrendForce indicated HTC will struggle to see its high-end phone reach 1 million in total sales this year, far below expectations. It's unlikely that offering $100 discount to U.S. shoppers during a two-week promotion in July will do much to boost those sales.
For more:
- see this HTC web page
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