Google to Buy a Part of HTC's Smartphone Team for $1.1 Billion

Continue reading

Rajat Kabade

The search engine giant is making another tech acquisition to better its expertise in smartphone hardware. Google plans to acquire a part of HTC's mobile team for $1.1 billion. 

Under this agreement, Google will acquire a team from HTC that has worked on Pixel line-up.

Google will sign a non-exclusive license for HTC intellectual property.

HTC will receive $1.1 billion in cash as part of the deal.


Google's head of hardware, Rick Osterloh has just confirmed the news. He states that the company is working closely with HTC on Pixel smartphone line-up. Google is keen on merging the HTC's Pixel team to improve the productivity of both the companies. The deal also includes a non-exclusive license for HTC intellectual property.

HTC too is quite excited about the deal. Cher Wang, CEO of HTC believes that this agreement will help in continuing the innovation within HTC smartphones and vive virtual reality business. The press release by HTC hints at the next-generation flagship smartphone by HTC. As part of the deal, HTC will hand-over a major portion of its talent and operations to Google but the company will continue with its own smartphone business. 

Google has acquired major smartphone manufactures in past as well. The company acquired Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion six years ago. In 2011, the search engine company ended up selling Motorola to Lenovo for a fraction of what it had originally shelled out. Google believes in acquiring tech manufacturers to enhance the user experience that charges the Android ecosystem. The company wants to benefit consumers, partners, and developers around the world. 

The Pixel line-up has turned out to be a great success in the consumer market. The team from Google took the entire charge of hardware development for Pixel and Pixel XL. While HTC played a silent contractor's role, the engineering team from HTC along with Google's team manufactured both Pixels last year. Google will directly challenge major Android partners like Samsung, LG, and Huawei by this acquisition. 

Source: Google to Buy a Part of HTC's Smartphone Team for $1.1 Billion