Jul 08, 2016 08:57 PM EDT By Vinay Patel, UniversityHerald Reporter

Although The HTC 10 is a powerful device, capable of taking on the likes of LG G5 and Samsung Galaxy S7 as far as performance is concerned, the smartphone was surprisingly not well-received; in fact, recently-surfaced reports claim it is struggling for sales.

According to a new report by the global market research firm, TrendForce, Chinese smartphone brands will continue to see considerable increases in production volume throughout the year with brands such as Vivo, Oppo, and Huawei slated to retain their solid market performance.

HTC, on the hand was reported to be hitting the rock bottom with a production volume of just 1 million units for the HTC 10 in the wake of a solid competition hailing from the aforementioned Chinese brands, TrendForce noted in a press release last month.

Clearly, the challenge is not due to any sort of lapse in terms of technology with the device.

HTC 10 Specs

5.2-inch quad-HD display
Qualcomm Snapdragon 820
4 GB RAM
3,000 mAh battery
Memory expandable up to 2 TB

That said, one criticism against the Taiwanese smartphone maker is that they come up with safe designs coupled with dull features. Besides, the $700 price tag of the HTC 10 could also be a reason behind the smartphone's unsatisfactory sale, as customers opt to purchase high-end devices of comparatively popular brands at that price tag,TechTimes reported.

The challenges that HTC is facing at the moment are one of the reasons why it built a subsidiary for the HTC Vive VR (virtual reality) handset, which is performing relatively well as opposed to HTC's smartphone business.

Following the development of HTC Vive Tech Corporation, engineers and managers currently working on the virtual reality handset will be able to completely concentrate on the gaming and entertainment sectors where HTC Vive will operate. Besides,with this move investors interested in backing the HTC Vive can leave their worry about getting involved with HTC smartphone business' struggle behind.

HTC is banking on the HTC Vive to get the company out of the alarming situation that is in right now citing the disappointing performance of HTC's smartphone, which also happens to be its core business.

That being said, HTC will not shift its focus entirely on the virtual reality headset, but instead try to bounce back in the smartphone segment.

The popular Taiwanese smartphone maker has been roped to manufacture a couple of smartphone models under the Nexus line which are slated to debut this year, and HTC would be hoping that this collaboration gives them the much-needed push in the smartphone market.

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