Taiwanese smartphone maker HTC on Tuesday posted a sixth consecutive quarterly loss despite a boost it received from making Google Pixel handsets and its venture into the nascent virtual reality business. For the July-September period, HTC lost 1.8 billion New Taiwan dollars ($57 million), compared with a NT$4.5 billion loss a year ago. The improvement in the bottom line was attributed to the aggressive cut in operational expense to NT$5.6 billion from NT$8.8 billion in the year-ago period. The company's revenue increased 3.7% to NT$22.2 billion from a year ago in the same period.

HTC said it saw continued sales momentum for the HTC VIVE systems across both consumer and enterprise markets, while the virtual reality content store, VIVEPORT, launched in late September, aims to bring the most diverse selection of virtual reality experiences to VIVE owners.

"I cannot disclose the actual shipments of Vive, but I can say the number is much higher than the 140,000 units as some news reports." HTC president of smartphone and connected devices business Chang Chia-linhe said.

Chang said HTC has been cutting down the product lines for some of its entry-level smartphone models over the past few quarters as part of the company’s restructuring plan.

HTC will continue to reduce the number of smartphone models and shift the focus to higher-priced handsets, Chang said.

"The number of smartphone models next year will be fewer than this year," he said.

Chang said said HTC will not put less effort into its smartphone or Internet of Things (IoT) businesses, because it believes the two segments will play important roles in the company’s long-term growth.