HTC fans planning to buy the HTC EVO 4G, or other future HTC device, with the hope of getting the included Beats Audio headphones as well, are in for a disappointment: the Taiwanese manufacturer has apparently reassessed the situation and decided to stop offering the rather overpriced headphones along with HTC devices.

Headphones Don't Factor In

"An accessory like the headphone doesn't factor in when someone is buying a smartphone," HTC's product executive Martin Fichter told Cnet. "If they want a Beats headphone, they'll buy it directly." Apparently, HTC's research indicated that the Beats Audio headphones bundled with devices such as the HTC Sensation XL and Verizon's Rezound were not a major factor in consumers' buying decision, and therefore it would be more fiscally responsible to stop including them.

In a $300 million investment, HTC took a majority stake of 51 percent in Beats Audio, and the incorporation of the Beats Audio technology, as well as the featuring of its headphones, were key factors in this decision. Beats Audio continues to operate independently and to license its technology to non-competing manufacturers such as Hewlett-Packard (HP). However HTC has effectively controlled Beats, incorporating the brand into all three smartphones of the HTC One line, as well as other new HTC smartphones.

HTC One Line Without Bundled Beats Headphones

HTC has also included Beats amplifiers, equalizers and settings into these smartphones, and is also adding Beats software portions into older phones such as HTC Vivid, as part of its Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich/HTC Sense 3.6 update. None of the three smartphones in the One family will come with bundled Beats headphones, but some retailers such as T-Mobile plan to use the branding association to sell the headphones as separate accessories.

The decision not to bundle Beats Audio headphones with future devices is not indefinite, but at least for the next several months the audio equipment will no longer be included. According to Fichter, the plan is to work with the Beats technology behind the headphones, which will still be incorporated into HTC handsets. Though bundling headphones is not out of the question for good, he said it wasn't something HTC is considering in the near term.

(reported by Alexandra Burlacu, edited by Surojit Chatterjee)