It’s clear that Nokia won’t be abandoning Microsoft’s Windows Phone 8 anytime soon. The company’s strategy of having a huge portion of a small market, rather than a tiny portion of the Android market, may or may not pay off – but at least it’s a coherent plan. HTC, on the other hand, is flailing all over the place. The company’s financials have been dismal, despite releasing its well-reviewed HTC One Android smartphone. It’s not clear that even Tony Stark himself can save the brand from obscurity.

DigiTimes today reported that HTC may soon abandon Windows Phone 8. The company currently manufactures its 8X and 8S line of Windows Phone 8 smartphones. The report’s unnamed “industry sources” cite a familiar cause for HTC’s woes: Samsung.

While Nokia reportedly has around four-fifths of the Windows Phone 8 market, HTC has now seen its share fall to below 5%. This comes at the same time Samsung has now raised its shipments of Windows Phone 8 devices to be come second in the market behind Nokia.

It appears that HTC focused much of its engineering and marketing resources to competing with Samsung for the high-end Android smartphone market. Slightly ironic, as Samsung has now overtaken it in the Windows Phone 8 arena. With analysts stating that mid- and low-priced phones in developing countries are the next growth markets for smartphones, HTC will have to reorganize much of its operation to compete. Continuing to push uphill toward the high-end market is a poor plan, as both Palm and BlackBerry have learned.

(via DigiTimes)