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HTC Halting Business in Brazil, Effective Immediately

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by Macky Evangelista on
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A spokesperson representing HTC has informed AndroidPit that the company is stopping sales of all HTC phones effective immediately in Brazil. They have already released dozens of employees and are leaving the Brazilian smartphone market for the time being. The HTC One line was slated to be released in Brazil, and now with this developing news story HTC has cancelled those plans but will still provide customer support for current Brazilian customers. Apparently HTC has been losing market share in Brazil for quite a number of years now, with Samsung and Nokia surpassing them. Thus, rather than trying to gain some headway, HTC has just stopped things all together and decided to cut their losses. There’s no indication whether HTC plans on returning to Brazil, but with over 27 million phone subscribers in Brazil I wouldn’t be surprised at all if HTC decides to take another crack at it in the near future.

Any of our Brazilian readers out there disappointed with this decision from HTC? This story is still developing so stay tuned…

source: AndroidPit

» See more articles by Macky Evangelista


Categorized as Android Manufacturers, Android News

  • Noah Gray

    Interesting. While high-end phone makers are trying to get into emerging markets, such as the iPhone in China, HTC is trying to go from being a low-spec phone maker to a high one, and moving OUT of the emerging markets. This seems foolish as even if they do capture market share in the high-margin field and in developed countries, they will have to work backward again to support the emerging ones. They should keep their operations going in these markets so they are prepared later on. This could be a sign they are failing and desperately need to cut costs by cutting markets.

  • Renan PE

    I’m definately dissapointed as a Brazilian customer, but I understand HTC’s move. Here in Brazil smartphones usually cost twice as much as in the USA or in Europe because of the ammount of taxes over imported electronics (from 60% to 80%, despite the profit of the sellers). It’s natural that those who are willing to spend $1000 or more on a phone will go on the “safe route” and purchase the best known smartphones, either the iphone or samsung galaxy s2 (at the time) and now the s3. Samsung has been selling phones here for years, and apple, well, is apple. HTC has never been huge in Brazil, and I dont think many people here recognize it. I, on the other hand, love technology and follow tech news from around the world, but I dont believe a significant amount of people do the same. I also lived in the U.S. for a year, and got in touch with HTC phones. In fact, I’m typing from my american HTC Desire S, which is a great smartphone that no one here in Brazil has ever heard about. The bad side of not having HTC here is that, beyond not being able to buy their phones unless I travel to the U.S or Europe, I can’t find accessories, batteries, cases, etc. If HTC tried to invest on advertising and mid and low end phones here, with the right pricing, even high end phones will became a choice for Brazilians willing to spend a little more. For now, though, i think they have to make more mid end and lower end phones to make themselves noticed and recognized (htc desire c is a great example of what I’m talking about). I just hope they improve marketshare an keep making great phones, I dont want to have only iphone or samsung to choose from…