Taiwan-based smartphone brand HTC Corp., which has also entered the virtual reality business, benefited from market enthusiasm over the metaverse concept to post a more than 20 percent month-on-month increase in sales in December.
In a statement released Thursday, HTC said it posted NT$576 million in consolidated sales in December, up 24.4 percent from a month earlier, the second consecutive month-on-month increase on the back of increased shipments of its latest VR gadget, the portable Vive Flow.
Analysts consider the Vive Flow to be HTC’s attempt to embrace the so-called “metaverse,” a concept that has been talked up by Meta (Facebook) CEO Mark Zuckerberg since July 2021. The idea refers to a digital world where people can move between devices and communicate in a virtual environment.
However, the December sales figure was also down 6.35 percent from a year earlier as competition in the global smartphone market in both high end and low to mid-range segments escalated, analysts said.
In 2021, HTC’s consolidated sales stood at NT$5.253 billion, down 9.52 percent from a year earlier, providing further evidence of stiff competition in the smartphone market.
Charles Huang (???), general manager for the HTC Vive in the Asia-Pacific region, said the Vive Flow is smaller and lighter than its predecessors, which is expected to help the device generate more sales than its counterparts in the Vive headset series.
The Vive Flow — lightweight, compact immersive glasses, weighing no more than 189 grams — has an expansive 100-degree field of view, 3.2K resolution, a 75 Hz refresh rate, and full 3D spatial audio that can also connect to external Bluetooth earphones, according to HTC.
HTC launched its first VR headset — the HTC Vive — in 2015 and has since introduced follow-up models.
Although HTC has been keen to explore business opportunities in the VR market, the company will also continue to focus on the smartphone market by unveiling new models later this year, Huang said without elaborating further.
Meanwhile, HTC said it has introduced new VR hardware and content at the on-going Consumer Electronics Show (CES), one of the leading electronics exhibitions in the world, in Las Vegas, including the first inside-out tracking device used by the Vive Focus 3 and healthcare content used by the Vive Flow.
In addition, the company’s Vive Pro 2 won the CES 2020 Innovation Award. Citing the jury, HTC said the headset is good at demonstrating images through its premium 5K fidelity and 120 degree field of view.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel