A plunge in sales has pushed the Taiwanese phonemaker HTC into a loss for the three months to March. The company's revenue for the first quarter dropped 64% to 14.8bn Taiwanese dollars ($456m), while the net loss was 2.6bn Taiwanese dollars, compared with a profit the year before.

The firm has been struggling to compete with the likes of Apple and Samsung, and is hoping that the new HTC 10 smartphone as well as its virtual reality headset Vive
will provide a financial push.

"The media and consumer buzz around HTC, including for the keenly-awaited launches of the flagship smartphone and Vive virtual reality system, clearly demonstrate our leadership in innovation and have provided a great boost to the HTC brand," said Cher Wang, chairwoman and chief executive of HTC in a statement.

Chief financial officer Chialin Chang added the company was hoping that the smartphone business would break even in the third quarter.

Last week, HTC announced the establishment of a new company, fueling speculation that the smartphone vendor may spin off its virtual reality (VR) business.