TAIPEI, Taiwan — ASUS held its investor conference on June 12, the company’s Chairman Johnny Shih expressed considering acquisition of struggling HTC. “We have unofficially discussed this issue within our company, to leave the door open.” said Johnny Shih.
“Our chairman has chatted about the topic internally,” said ASUS’s Chief Financial Officer David Chang. “Still, the chances of an actual takeover are not big as ASUS is a company that has depended on organic growth.”
However, HTC’s shares have dropped almost 50 percent since HTC launched their One M9 handset back in March during the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona. HTC has also unveiled the One M9+, One E9+, Butterfly 3 handset, which are all high-end devices.
Allegedly, many analysts considered that HTC neither rival with Apple and Samsung in the high-end handset market, nor compete with Chinese firms in the low-entry smartphone market.
Moreover, HTC’s newest One M9 flagship Android smartphone has failed to impress the customers. Last month, there were reports that HTC was cutting component orders for the device by 30 percent. Under damage control mode, HTC has still promised to roll out a new hero product later this year.
