HTC unveils Desire 601, Desire 300 smartphones
2013/09/03 20:52:05
Taipei, Sept. 3 (CNA) Taiwan's HTC Corp. unveiled two new smartphones Tuesday -- a mid-range and an entry-level model -- seeking to carve out a space in the crowded affordable phone market.
HTC's mid-range Desire 601 has a 4.5-inch display with a resolution of 960 x 450 pixels, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 dual-core 1.4GHz processor, a rear-facing 5-megapixel camera and 4G LTE connectivity, the company said in a statement.
The phone also has several innovative functions that were first seen in the HTC One flagship phone, such as the BlinkFeed live-streaming home screen, the front-facing BoomSound stereo speakers and the Zoe software for the camera.
The Desire 300, meanwhile, is classified as an entry-level model based on its lower hardware specifications -- a 4.3-inch display, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 1GHz dual-core processor and the BoomSound audio function.
"We are committed to offering the most innovative portfolio of products on the market. Our Desire family has become synonymous with affordable quality," HTC CEO Peter Chou said in the statement.
HTC said the new Desire 601 will be available in select markets across the Europe, the Middle East and Africa in October, while the Desire 300 will hit stores shelves in select markets around the world at the same time. The prices were not disclosed.
HTC said it will also launch blue versions of the HTC One and the downsized HTC One mini in select markets in the fourth quarter of this year.
The unveiling of the two new Desire phones follows HTC's announcement on July 30 that it plans to launch a new range of mid-tier phones late in the third quarter or early in fourth quarter to increase its economy of scale and leverage its product portfolio.
With a shifting focus from the saturated high-end market to the affordable segment, HTC is struggling to boost volume while facing the pressure of falling gross margins.
The Taoyuan-based company has forecast a gross margin decline from 23.2 percent in the second quarter to 18-21 percent in the third quarter. It has also projected an operating margin of zero to minus 8 percent, meaning that it will break even or post a loss in the current quarter.
According to a report by market information advisory firm NPD DisplaySearch, shipments of low-end and mid-range smartphones will climb by an annual 37 percent this year to 958 million units, accounting for more than 50 percent of total smartphone shipments worldwide.
In an attempt to take advantage of this trend, Chinese brands and other second-tier makers have been competing for dominance in the low-end and mid-range market, the report said.
By contrast, leading phone makers such as Apple, Samsung, HTC, Nokia, Blackberry and Motorola have seen a drop in shipments of their high-end models because of the increasing popularity of low-end and mid-range models, the report added.
HTC shares closed unchanged at NT$147.5 (US$4.96) Tuesday on the local bourse.
(By Jeffrey Wu)
