HTC could be about to exit another major smartphone market

Announced via Chinese social network Weibo, HTC has today confirmed that it’ll be “temporarily” halting sales of its smartphones through local retailers JD.com and Tmall. The company did reassure customers that accessories and smartphone can still be purchased through its own website in the region, but a quick look shows that many of the models are currently out of stock including the HTC U11 and HTC U11+.

 
The decision to halt sales comes after the company reviewed its “long-term business strategy” for China, which presumably focuses primarily on VR headset sales. Speaking of which, these have not been affected by the changes and can still be purchased at the retailers mentioned above, as well as HTC’s website and its flagship HTC Vive store.

It’ll remain to be seen what HTC chooses to do with its smartphone business in China. But in the meantime, the company says that it’ll continue to pre-sales and after-sales customer services.