No low-budget phones from HTC in near future, reveals company CEO

In an interview to Wall Street Journal, HTC’s Chief Executive Peter Chou cleared it out that the Taiwan-based company won’t be venturing into the low-end smartphone segment in the near future and will instead only focus on catering to the medium and high-end smartphone segments. However, staunch competition coming in from the likes of Samsung Electronics and Apple Inc. have been proving deterrents to HTC's ambitions of making their presence felt in the medium and high-end smartphone segment and the company, reportedly has been losing its grip over the U.S. market and is attempting to get popular in markets, like India and China.

Not going the low-budget smartphones way..

The report further quotes Mr.Chou as saying, "We don't want to destroy our brand image. We insist on using better materials to make better products that offer premium experience. Many consumers like that." The report adds that Mr.Chou maintains that HTC won't sell "cheap, cheap phones" in a bid to improve shipments. He added that in China, they sell smartphones costing as low as 2,000 yuan ($314), but the company will not release any models that would sell for 1,000 yuan or less, because he believes that the company "won't have any good products at that price level." The report further highlights that the HTC CEO's statements come at a time when analysts there are questioning the company's existing strategies, while adding that the company needs to "rethink its pricing and offer less-costly phones." 

He further revealed that the company is gearing up to better its marketing in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. "He also said the company would consider making acquisitions in the areas of software technology and marketing," added the report further. 

The now longstanding battle between Apple and HTC over patents too took a turn, when Apple presented a motion for dismissal of five HTC patents, which the judge granted. Apple raised this motion in relation to the fact that the five patents that HTC presented were not actually theirs to begin with. And, as it now stands, HTC has withdrawn its appeal.