Mobile Technology

HTC One sales: Holding its own against the Galaxy S4

HTC One sales: Holding its own against the Galaxy S4
Unofficial reports have HTC selling five million Ones, compared to ten million Samsung Galaxy S4s
Unofficial reports have HTC selling five million Ones, compared to ten million Samsung Galaxy S4s
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Unofficial reports have HTC selling five million Ones, compared to ten million Samsung Galaxy S4s
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Unofficial reports have HTC selling five million Ones, compared to ten million Samsung Galaxy S4s
Two excellent Android phones: from companies in very different positions
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Two excellent Android phones: from companies in very different positions

It’s no secret. HTC’s future – along with the job of its CEO – is riding on the success of its flagship phone, the HTC One. With recent reports saying that the company is in a “freefall” while losing top staff, things weren't looking so hot. But there may be hope yet, as HTC has reportedly sold around half as many Ones as Samsung has sold Galaxy S4s. That might sound like bad news for HTC, but those are actually promising figures.

First, those numbers. A few days ago, The Wall Street Journal reported that Samsung had sold around ten million Galaxy S4s in almost a month. Nothing unexpected there: typical, lofty Samsung results. But today, the WSJ also reports that HTC has sold around five million Ones in its first month ... this despite some supply constraints that have the company still catching up with demand.

It's all relative

Two excellent Android phones: from companies in very different positions
Two excellent Android phones: from companies in very different positions

When does your opponent doubling your sales count as a good thing? When your opponent is Samsung, that’s when.

In 2012, HTC also had a high quality, well-reviewed smartphone, in the One X. But by the end of the year, Samsung had sold roughly six to seven times as many Galaxy S3s as HTC sold One Xs.

This early (and very unofficial) 2:1 ratio in the 2013 version of that battle is looking like one hell of an improvement.

These numbers also beat some analysts’ predictions. Just last month, CK Cheng of CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets saw HTC moving 3.5 million Ones in Q2. So five million before the quarter is finished? Maybe CEO Peter Chou will keep his job after all.

Early in the game

Of course these figures aren't official, and they only reflect the first month of sales. The year is long, and HTC will need to sustain this momentum against a deep-pocketed Samsung marketing machine (and, eventually, a new iPhone). The scale could also tip a bit further in Samsung’s favor, as the GS4 just launched on Verizon, the largest carrier in the US. Verizon hasn’t announced any plans to carry the One.But you know what? When your company has hit hard times, even approaching half the sales of the biggest kid on the block is something to hang your hat on.

As we opined the other day, HTC is still a key player in the Android field. The success of the One (and, by association, the entire company) could have a direct impact on customer choice in the smartphone market. This is a plotline worth keeping an eye on.

Sources: Wall Street Journal [1] [2]

6 comments
6 comments
Sushant
Tell HTC to add a MicroSD slot in One and then see the sales figure grow. Majority of people nowadays check online reviews and every site mentions HTC One biggest cons as 'no external memory card slot'.
Davy de Verteuil
How about the price comparison in most countries HTC ONE are priced 2X as Samsung S4. I contend if HTC had better marketing skills they'd have sold 21/2X than Samsung in the 2Q. HTC ONE have short coming 1:its pricing made no sacrifice.2: No Memory card. Yet Samsung is cheaper just as gorgeous & 1/2 the price with old but not stale Hardware.....Nokia Sony Apple BlackBerry Please!!!
pmshah
A few months ago Apple had a promotion going for their phones. These could be purchased on 6 equal monthly installments at no extra charge. They sold quite a few even in Indian market which is extremely rpcie conscious and even more sensitive to "Value fort Money". To counter this promotion Samsung came out with even bigger one. They picked out 2 major card issuing banks. They made the phone available on 15 % cash back + 12 EMIs at no extra cost. If one was able to negotiate the swiped value, that was additional gain. Every shop that sold offered Samsung phone had people lining up to pay their bills, something not normally seen.
As a brand Samsung enjoys excellent reputation in the Indian market. Their LCD and LED TVs have many extra features and better quality compared to LG and Sony. It is natural for this goodwill to spill over to the mobile market. For many years Nokia was king. But their so called smartphones had severe problems with software with no third party ones available. There are many like me who started off with really low cost full function Samsung Android devices running gingerbread. i was among these.
HTC and LG - who do not have pockets as deep as Samsung did suffer and will continue to suffer. I got myself Galaxy Grand Duos. Although there are some limitations in the way the device is configured it serves my purpose very well. Fortunately for me Their service center is just two houses down the street from my residence.
What is to be seen are the results form the current quarter to really gauge effect on iPhone, LG and HTC sales.
BTW much more powerful and better featured phones than what Samsung is offering are available in private house brand which is eating into the smartphone market of multinationals in a big way.
Gary Tucker
MSFT, NOK and HTC need to lock themselves in a room and not come out until all the hardware of the three is made by a combined single company. Nokia surviving parent company. Nokia phones and Nokia Surface worldwide, HTC phones worldwide and Xbox of course worldwide. Cash generated by these three divisions should cover over all marketing and R&D for some time to come. Microsoft gets back to software and perhaps developing hardware but licensing out to branded companies. Convergience software for Nok Xbox and HTC Xbox might be goals. The merger of the 3 would most likely leave MSFT with large NOK stake. Could be spun off to MSFT shareholders tax free in short order in a few years.
willemco
If HTC only had been smart enough to include external Micro SD slot as well as removable battery HTC ONE would have been the outright winner. Now I still prefer Samsung Galaxy. iPhone is no longer part of the equation...
Tarcísio Medeiros
I REALLY don't know why people desire SO MUCH SD Slot. Isn't 64Gb + cloud storage enough? Do they really uses all of them?
S4 can only have 80Gb, and you will pay a lot for that. HTC One has 64gb, and is the same price as 16gb of S4...
Well, for those, just buy a HTC Butterfly S, which have the terrible SD Slot. I prefer the 64Gb internal storage, which has faster reading/writing than most micro SD cards...