“For Google, this agreement further reinforces its commitment to smartphones and overall investment in its emerging hardware business,” the search giant said in a statement. Under the deal, Google will also receive a non-exclusive license for HTC’s intellectual property. HTC is a long-time partner of Google and some analysts estimate that Pixel smartphones account for 20 percent of HTC’s smartphone shipments. HTC’s worldwide smartphone market share declined to 0.9 percent last year from a peak of 8.8 percent in 2011, according to IDC. Google’s Pixel had less than 1 percent market share since it was launched a year ago, with an estimated 2.8 million shipments, IDC estimates.

Source: dna September 21, 2017 05:03 UTC