HTC comes up short in Q3 with more than $135 million in losses

HTC’s revenue for the third quarter took a nose dive, resulting in a loss of NT$4.48 billion (US$138 million). The company’s revenue from the quarter fell to NT$21.4 billion from NT$41.9 billion last year. HTC’s decline in the market has been slowly playing out over the past three years and isn’t showing any true signs of improvement.

HTC managed to stabilize its position in the smartphone world in 2013 and 2014 with the HTC One and HTC One M8, but all that work seemingly vaporized in the first half of 2015 with the launch of the HTC One M9. While the phone isn’t bad, it doesn’t have the wow factor it needs to compete with the Samsung Galaxy S6 and S6 edge. HTC has also failed to back the phone up with a global promotional campaign, leaving the hardware to fend for itself in a sea of similarly-spec’d phones.

At this pace, HTC will burn through its cash reserves within the next two years unless it finds a way to reverse the tides. The upcoming HTC One A9 isn’t expected to be the silver bullet that HTC so desperately needs, but the stylish new mid-range phone could actually help HTC into a new rhythm. The phone will likely be sold in dozens of markets across the globe and may even be accompanied by a decent marketing campaign.

If you could change one thing at HTC, what would it be?