Oh no, whatever will we do? Turns out HTC’s $300 million dollar investment in Beats Audio isn’t quite paying off. Apparently people don’t really care about Beats (they could have hired me for a hell of a lot less than $3 million and I would have told them that) and even worse — people don’t choose smartphones based on headphones (who would of thought). I know you’re sad to see them go but in the famous words of the King of Pop: “Just beat it.”

You’ll still get your precious Beats “technology” (aka equalizer with bass cranked up) just minus the headphones. At least HTC has seen the error of their ways and is trying to salvage what money they can in order to redistribute it towards things that actually matter: processors, displays, cameras, etc. Their new One series of devices seem to reiterate their new investment in “real” tech as opposed to marketing and brand “tech.” Let’s hope they do better this time around and judging by initial reviews, it looks like they just might.

• SourceCNET