Google in talks to acquire HTC’s smartphone business

Some industry watchers think that sale of HTC was not unforeseen given that the Taiwanese company has reported losses in the past nine quarters, this is despite increasingly gain in popularity of the HTC brand.

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For now however, neither Google nor HTC has confirmed that a purchase is imminent, though both companies share some history in the android department. HTC created the first two Android phones and manufactured the first Nexus phone, branded as Google, in 2010. Since then, it has also been a close ally of the  Google making other devices for the search giant (such as the Nexus 9) and rolling out the Pixel and Pixel XL… and it’s set to be behind the creation of one of the new Pixel 2 devices. So think skills and experience, the things to propel Google to establishing a presence in the high-end hardware smartphone sphere. For Google, therefore, this move would be a relatively seamless transition.

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This is not the first time Google would be making a similar move. It also took over the mobile phone business of Motorola and subsequently sold it to Lenovo in 2014. One of the advantages Google enjoyed was a number of patents owned by Motorola then and the same could happen with HTC now. Some have also suggested that Google’s acquisition of HTC (if it happens) will be a temporary arrangement to see the Pixel launch and manufacturing through. But no one can discount the benefits that Google will gain by having a hardware manufacturing base at its disposal.