Google has announced that it is buying a portion of HTC's smartphone division for a whopping $1.1 billion, indicating previous rumors were true.
Earlier speculation suggested HTC was trying to sell its smartphone business, with Google as the foremost candidate to absorb it.
Google Buys Off Part Of HTC For $1.1 Billion
Google is indeed purchasing off HTC's smartphone arm. It's an expected turn of events. Once a potent smartphone maker with a strong fanbase, HTC now struggles to capture a significant chunk of the market with heavyweights Apple, Samsung, and Huawei standing unbeatable at the top ranks.
"These future fellow Googlers are amazing folks we've already been working with closely on the Pixel smartphone line, and we're excited to see what we can do together as one team," said Rick Osterloh, Google's senior VP for hardware.
It makes sense for Google and HTC to partner up since they have both worked on smartphones in the past — HTC made the first-ever Nexus phone. The announcement was practically confirmed when HTC said on Wednesday, Sept. 20, that it would briefly halt trading ahead of "material information" shortly thereafter.
What Will Happen To HTC?
HTC isn't going anywhere, however. It will march on with its smartphone business despite transferring hordes of talent and operations over to Google. Cher Wang, CEO of HTC, said this type of deal will help maintain the company's "innovation within our HTC smartphone and Vive virtual reality business," as The Verge reports.
So no, HTC isn't retiring from making smartphones. Quite the opposite. It's now currently working on its next flagship phone, in fact, the billion-dollar deal notwithstanding.
From the looks of things, Google only bought HTC's Pixel team, but even so, this will massively help Google create smartphones with software and hardware integrated into development. This is actually one of Apple's strengths, working closely on both hardware and software aspects to deliver the best experience.
With HTC's Pixel team at Google, this also means the company can work on finer aspects in-house, such as design.
This marks the second time Google has acquired a smartphone company; the first instance was Motorola Mobility in 2011, which paved the way for Motorola to open a plant in the United States. However, that partnership failed to blossom, as Google later sold the company to Lenovo for much less than what it had originally paid.
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