HTC will focus on marketing midrange smartphones priced at NT$10,000-15,000 (US$335-502) in the Taiwan market in the third quarter of 2013 targeting the younger generation, according to Jack Tong, president of HTC North Asia.

　　Although high-end smartphone models, priced at above NT$15,000, currently account for over 50% of the local handset market, there is room for further development of midrange models through cooperation with telecom operators, Tong stated.

　　While pushing sales of its new HTC One and HTC Butterfly smartphones in the high-end segment, HTC has been cooperating with Taiwan's top-three telecom carriers - Chunghwa Telecom (CHT), Taiwan Mobile (TWM) and Far EasTone Telecommunications (FET) - to promote its midrange models, including the HTC Desire U, Desire L, Desire Q and Desire P, Tong noted.

　　Recently, HTC teamed up with CHT to launch the HTC Desire 600, and will begin to market the HTC Desire 500 in August in cooperation with TWM.

　　The HTC Desire 500, which features a 4.3-inch touch screen and a Qualcomm 1.2GHz Snapdragon 200 quad-core CPU, will carry a suggested retail price of NT$11,900.

　　HTC also plans to launch a new midrange model, the HTC One mini, in August, Tong revealed.