Their second quarter report, released today, showed weaker than expected demand at the high end and weak sales in China, leading to year on year fall in profits.

For the three months to June, losses dropped to 8bn Taiwanese dollars (£163m) from Tw$2.26bn a year earlier. Shares fell to their lowest price since February 2005

“HTC has begun to implement company-wide efficiency measures to reduce operating costs across the organisation and ensure resources are appropriately allocated to future growth,” the company said in a statement.

HTC have faced strong competition in recent months from Apple and Samsung, as well as being undercut by cheaper Chinese smartphone companies.

Miranda Wadham on 07/08/2015