After being away from the market for nearly two years, HTC, the former king of Android phones, released the Desire 22Pro mobile phone, priced at NT$11,990 (approximately RMB 2,700). According to the company, this is the world’s first “Metaverse” mobile phone, focusing on Metavers

After being away from the market for nearly two years, HTC, the former king of Android phones, released the Desire 22Pro mobile phone, priced at NT$11,990 (approximately RMB 2,700). According to the company, this is the world’s first “Metaverse” mobile phone, focusing on Metaverse-related functions and virtual asset management.

According to Taiwanese media reports, unlike smartphones on the market that must download additional apps or other programs to connect to the Metaverse application, HTC Desire 22 Pro users can directly connect to the HTC Electron Universe platform VIVERSE - the mobile phone's built-in Metaverse application. Viverse App is the entrance to the universe, Vive Avatar is used to create virtual avatars, and Vive Wallet is used to manage virtual assets, etc.

html On June 28, HTC (HTC) Asia Pacific general manager Huang Zhaoying said in an interview with the media: Desire 22Pro was first launched in Taiwan, China, in July and in the Japanese market in August. It will continue to launch mobile phones and VR in the second half of the year. Waiting for new products.

However, on June 29, a reporter from Nanduwan Financial News saw on HTC’s official website that the new phone is still not online yet.

In the past " Android machine king " The mobile phone business failed

HTC was founded in 1997, and it has long been an OEM mobile phone brand. However, in 2008, HTC launched the world's first Android phone "T-Mobile G1". With G1, HTC not only completely broke into the market, but also made the Android system famous. After tasting the sweetness, the G series mobile phones were quickly launched. After

opened the market, HTC has made rapid progress and become the world's largest smartphone OEM and manufacturer, once occupying nearly 80% of the market share of Windows Mobile phones. In 2011, HTC became the second largest smartphone in sales after , apple, and , with a market value of more than 33 billion U.S. dollars. It became the "big brother" of the Android camp and one of the three major mobile phone giants alongside , Samsung, , and Apple. Therefore, it is known as the "King of Android Phones".

However, while HTC is making rapid progress, it also has hidden dangers. HTC, which was born as a foundry, essentially has no core technology. With the rise of HTC, Apple, Samsung, Nokia , etc. are facing threats. In 2011, Apple took HTC to court on the grounds of patent infringement and requested that the sale of 29 HTC mobile phones be banned in the United States. Apple ultimately won the case. . Subsequently, , Microsoft, , Samsung, Nokia, etc. all sued HTC for patent infringement. In 2013, , the Netherlands, , and the United Kingdom announced a ban on the sale of some HTC products in their countries. In 2014, Germany announced a ban on the sale of some HTC products...

Frequent The patent dispute has caused HTC's global market to continue to shrink. Coupled with the rise of mobile phone brands in mainland China, HTC's market share has been less than 1% in 2017. Under this situation, on September 21, 2017, HTC reached a cooperation with Google , announcing that HTC’s design team focusing on Pixel mobile phones will all join Google and license HTC’s intellectual property rights to Google for use in a non-exclusive manner. This also means that HTC's mobile phone business has failed.

Shifting from selling hardware to selling services

However, HTC has not completely bid farewell to the mobile phone business. Nanduwan Financial News reporter learned that HTC released the Exodus 1 blockchain mobile phone in 2018. At that time, officials stated that it was the first mobile phone with a built-in native cryptocurrency wallet. In 2021, HTC also released its first 5G mobile phone.

In recent years, HTC has mainly focused on the field of VR. In 2016, known as the first year of VR, HTC jointly created the Vive VR headset with Steam. Sales exceeded 200,000 units in 2018. Since then, HTC's market share has exceeded 1/3 for several consecutive years. In 2021, it entered the top five giants in the global VR field. In 2022, HTC's VR-related product shipments exceeded 65 million units.

On February 28 this year, HTC Vive officially released the metaverse brand Viverse and announced the first Viverse product demonstration at the 2022 MWC. According to the official statement, Viverse is the next chapter of VIVE’s virtual reality vision. Users can use tablets, PCs, smartphones and other hardware devices to enter Viverse through a browser at any time and anywhere. The entire Viverse is realized through virtual reality, augmented reality , high-speed connection, artificial intelligence and blockchain technology that HTC has invested in over the years.

Regarding this "Metaverse" mobile phone, the industry generally believes that this is HTC's intention to sell its own VR products and Viverse services through the "Metaverse" concept. A reporter from Nanduwan Financial News found that except for the blockchain mobile phone from 4 years ago, the current product series on HTC’s official website are all VR products. On the e-commerce platform, HTC’s self-operated stores currently also focus on VR products.

According to Huang Zhaoying, HTC has a three-stage strategy for developing Metaverse. In order to allow users to quickly enter the Metaverse, the first phase of Metaverse will increase partners, the second phase will improve consumer experience, and the third phase, it is hoped that the Metaverse platform Viverse will become The membership subscription system allows enterprises to shift from hardware to software service development.

Written by: Nandu·Wancaishe reporter Kong Xueshao