HTC reached the peak of its market success back in 2011 when it reached the number 5 position in global smartphone sales. In the US, it was named the #1 vendor, ahead of Apple and Samsung. Unfortunately, at the end of 2012, its global market share dropped to just 4 percent and there’s still no sign that the company is recovering.

HTC’s top executive admitted that his company has done too little on the marketing front, while other competitors are pouring more and more money into it. HTC had also been criticized for releasing many Android smartphones that are nearly indistinguishable from each other. There were more than twenty HTC Android smartphones released in 2011, but only five in 2012.

Now, the HTC First will be one of the few released this year, but some argue that it won’t perform too differently compared to HTC’s other social-network focused smartphones, the Salsa and Cha Cha. Both phones come with dedicated Facebook physical buttons and sadly, failed to set the smartphone market on fire. But this time, HTC promised to give us a fresh start with new innovative products. Only time will tell, whether the HTC First will be remembered as something disruptive or join its predecessors and fade away quietly.