HTC has become known for its diverse array of Android-based smartphones, with models targeting both the top end of the market as well as mobiles which are aimed to appease those on a budget.

However, the Taiwanese manufacturer has now stated that it is going to be revising its approach and avoiding the production of entry level smartphones.

Instead it will be looking to pitch mobiles at the mid to high end price brackets, leaving its rivals to struggle in the particularly competitive budget arena.

HTC got into a spot of bother during 2011 after it emerged that its sales were down, with most blaming the sheer number of handsets that it launched on the customer confusion that led to squeezed profit margins.

It had originally said that it would be revising its approach in 2012, taking a more focused approach and launching fewer models. This latest statement from the company CEO Peter Chou, who was interviewed by the Wall Street Journal, seems to reaffirm HTC`s aims.

Mr Chou said that HTC was committed to upholding the premium end of the smartphone experience, which is why you can find models like the One X which feature quality materials.

Meanwhile the One X`s main rival, the Samsung Galaxy S3, has been heavily criticised by some because of its plasticy design which is definitely not in the same league as HTC`s offering.

Of course from a commercial point of view the budget mobile phone market is actually quite an appealing place to operate, since despite the competition there are actually many more potential customers available as costs are lower and demand for smartphones of any kind is always growing.

HTC is not completely extricating itself from this part of the market, because models like the recently launched Desire C show that it still has its finger on the pulse in terms of price sensitive handsets.

The HTC Desire C has decent specifications, including a 3.5 inch touchscreen display, a 600MHz processor and a five megapixel camera. Like the One X it runs Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, although in terms of cost it is about a third of the price of its big brother.

Part of the inspiration behind HTC`s move could be the fact that a number of Chinese companies have begun to champion the lower end of the mobile market with very cheap Android devices that are also quite well specified in terms of hardware.

Huawei has been a particular success in this respect, although its growing Ascend range is beginning to bother the mid range models.

Meanwhile HTC`s competitor Samsung is making continuing headway in the entry level smartphone market. Samsung contracts tend to be very competitively priced as it has the financial might behind it to keep costs to the customer low. It just remains for HTC to prove that it can offer affordability and that all important quality of construction to help its smartphones stand out and bring the company`s operations back into the black.