HTC could be looking to bow out of the smartphone business

A rumour has come out of China suggesting HTC is looking to sell off its mobile business after poor sales and continuing losses. The rumour, from Chinese site MyDrivers, and subsequently picked up by MobiPicker, says HTC CEO Cher Wang has said himself that the company will sell off the mobile arm in spring 2017.

Taiwanese media reports that HTC has categorically denied the rumours, although some industry analysts say this is just a cover up to avoid bad press about its current financial situation.

If HTC does decide to sell, there’s also rumours suggesting Google will be a good buyer, considering HTC is responsible for making the Pixel and Pixel XL. The two companies have a good rapport, as HTC has been the device manufacturer of choice for several Nexus products in the past and has a good track record of making decent devices itself, including the recently released HTC 10.

However a sale does beg the question, what else does HTC have? The HTC Vive is the only real commercially available product the company has to fall back on, and even though it does deliver a superb virtual reality experience, sales have been poor.

Of course, this is all just a rumour for now so should be taken with a hefty pinch of salt, but if true, it would be a sad day for smartphonekind.