HTC has shut down its operations in South Korea, reported the Tech World. The company has officially announced its plan to pull out of the country where it enjoys a meager 1 percent smartphone market share (as per the Q1 report) while other big players like Samsung, LG and Pantech, dominate with about a 90 percent of the market.

The Taiwanese smartphone maker has not confirmed layoffs, it has ensured that it will place the affected employees within the company. "This is a hard decision that has direct impact on people who have contributed to the growth HTC has experienced the past several years," the company said in a statement. It has also assured the users to continue providing sales and customer support through local operator partners like SK Telecom and KT.

HTC also closed its operations in Brazil in June. The company, however, continued providing after-sales support for its products. Reportedly, HTC’s Brazil operation also was shrunk to less than 1 percent in the first quarter of this year.

Meanwhile, Gartner revealed that after Q4 2010, HTC could never go beyond five per cent market share in South Korea and its share remained bound between one or two percent in last two years.

Moreover, HTC, even with its newly launched One series of smartphone, could not do much in the market. While One X received accolades from all over the world, sales of the smartphone remained very sluggish compared to Samsung’s latest big hit Galaxy S3.

HTC has posted its press release stating “As part of a regular review of all lines of business and markets in which the company operates, HTC will close its Korea sales office with immediate effect. HTC will continue to provide after sales service and customer service functions through its local operator partners – SKT and KT, and will continue to honour all existing product warranties. In addition, the company will endeavour to provide updates to existing products available in the market."

"HTC believes Korea is one of the most advanced and fast growing smartphone markets in the world, and will carefully evaluate introducing innovative mobile devices in Korea should the opportunity arise in future.”