Google has announced that it is buying part of HTC’s smartphone business in a deal which is worth $1.1 billion. The deal will see around 2,000 staff at HTC move to Google, these are the same staff who have been developing the Pixel smartphones and other devices with Google.
HTC is not out of the smartphone business, the company will continue to make its own smartphones and the deal also includes a non exclusive license for HTC intellectual property.
That’s why we’ve signed an agreement with HTC, a leader in consumer electronics, that will fuel even more product innovation in the years ahead. With this agreement, a team of HTC talent will join Google as part of the hardware organization. These future fellow Googlers are amazing folks we’ve already been working with closely on the Pixel smartphone line, and we’re excited to see what we can do together as one team. The deal also includes a non-exclusive license for HTC intellectual property.
In many ways, this agreement is a testament to the decade-long history of teamwork between HTC and Google. Together, we’ve achieved several mobile-industry firsts, including the first ever Android smartphone, the HTC Dream, also known as the T-Mobile G1 (I loved mine!); as well as the Nexus One in 2010, the Nexus 9 tablet in 2014, and the first Pixel smartphone just last year.
Google will be announcing their new Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL smartphones next month, the company is holding a press event on the 4th of September.
Source Google