HTC’s smartphone business might slowly be recovering thanks to U11

According to the company, its June revenue was the highest since last December, and it’s thanks to the increasing popularity of the HTCU11.

If you’ve been in the Android world for some time, you probably know a thing or two about HTC’s unfortunate history: from a dominant market player with beautiful aluminium phones to a struggling company reporting loss after loss. In fact, in 2016, apart from one month, every month saw a year-over-year decrease as big as 79 percent. When it launched the HTC U Ultra earlier this year, not only was it disappointing for many, but it had people doubting if HTCactually wanted to get back into the game. Well, its evolved sibling, the HTC U11, is an entirely different story, it seems.

According to HTC, its June revenue saw a 52 percent month-over-month increase and an 8 percent year-over-year increase to NT$6.89 billion or roughly $225.2 million. This is the highest in six months, and had HTCnot manufactured the Pixel phones (which helped it cross the NT$7 billion mark in September, October, and November of last year), this figure would’ve been the highest in over a year. While $225.2 million is nothing to boast about considering HTCused to rake in over $680 million in a month during its golden age, the fact of the matter is that people are actually buying the HTCU11.

In fact, Chang Chia-lin, president of the company’s smartphone division, previously stated that the latest squeezable flagship from HTCoutsold its predecessors in less than a month on the market, and we are seeing reports that the Taiwanese electronics company may ramp up its inventory levels to meet increased sales in the summer months. Not only that, Google’s upcoming flagship phones are rumored to be manufactured by HTCfor the second time, which would help boost its revenue even further.

HTC’s current flagship certainly isn’t without its flaws, but HTC’s incessant innovation as well as its unparalleled fan base might just prove to be a tipping point for the struggling company. What are your thoughts on the HTCU11? Will it be enough to help HTCrecover? Let us know your thoughts by leaving a comment below!