Taiwan-based smartphone maker HTC announced on Friday that it will be pulling out its operations in Brazil due to poor performance that resulted in a decline in shares in the smartphone market.
The company said that it will lay off the staff it employs and stop the wholesale sales of its products. Reports say that the company has already notified some of its employees as early as last week because of the decline in market shares due to the increased competition from rivals Nokia, Samsung, Apple and LG.
The company will also cancel the launch of its HTC One smartphone, which was advertised as “coming soon.” HTC only sells two models of smartphones in Brazil: the Windows Phone HTC Ultimate (Titan) and the Android-powered HTC Wildfire S.
“After careful analysis of our lines of business, HTC is closing our office in Brazil,” said HTC in a statement. “We will continue after-sales support for our products, so this should not result in a change in service for current customers. This decision does not have an impact on HTC’s business outside of Brazil.”
It was reported that 9 million smartphones were purchased by Brazilians last year and the country is on its way to becoming the fourth largest mobile phone market in the world by 2016.
HTC said that it intends to be competitive in the smartphone market and will halt the manufacture of budget phones. It will focus on developing higher-priced smartphones in a market dominated by big players like Apple and Samsung.
via: Apple Insider
