HTC has been keeping hush of late, considering that the company is working with Google to create one of the next Pixel smartphones. It however seems that the two companies are going to get closer as a merger seems to be inevitable.
Rumours have been doing the rounds online that Google may be considering buying out HTC. The company’s stock has just been suspended for trade, which will resume after an important announcement by HTC tomorrow, but serial leaskter Evan Blasse did mention on his Twitter account that Google will be buying a component of HTC, which consists of the core engineering assets, but HTC will still be able to retain their brand name.
This will mean that Google will own a part of HTC, but not the company entirely. HTC already has three new phones scheduled for release till December, excluding the new Pixel device, so the company will still be busy making its own kind of phones for the future as well. Alphabet, the parent company of Google, will most likely be using the acquisition as a means to create Google-made phones, fulfilling the purpose of the Pixel brand.
What further provides proof that Google might be buying out a section of HTC is that HTC is currently running at a loss despite stellar reviews and performance of the U11 flagship. Other reports claim that Google might want to buy off HTC’s Vive VR division, which has been already doing good in the market. With Vive out of HTC’s hands, the company may lose one of its biggest properties.
This could also be one of the reasons why HTC did halt trading of its stock in fear having its shareholders panicking and selling off their stock immediately. While this scenario may be completely true, HTC’s executives are not commenting on the matter just yet, leaving the general public to wait until tomorrow for the verdict.
Alphabet’s decision to make the acquisition stems from the need of the company to have more hardware control in the market. Since Apple has its own dedicated hardware division, it is able to churn out phones that have impeccable quality and usefulness, owing to the compatibility between hardware and software. It seems Google might want something similar with their own devices as well, and be completely independent in creating their own devices. The acquisition may also help increase sales of the Pixel phones in the future as stock was the problem that all Google phones have faced in the past.