HTC has announced that they will no longer be providing any software updates for the HTC One S either in the form of Android system updates or updates to its Sense UI layer. The One S was launched globally in April last year and in South Africa less than a year ago with Android 4.0 and Sense 4.0 on top of it, while the device has been updated to Android 4.1.1 that will be the end of the road for users of the device. HTC is one of the founding members of the Open Handset Alliance which along with Google pledged that new devices would “receive the latest Android platform upgrades for 18 months after the device is first released” back in 2011 at Google’s I/O conference.

HTC’s official response showed little remorse for One S owners:

“We can confirm that the HTC One S will not receive further Android OS updates and will remain on the current version of Android and HTC Sense. We realize this news will be met with disappointment by some, but our customers should feel confident that we have designed the HTC One S to be optimized with our amazing camera and audio experiences.”

HTC is going through a tumultuous period at the moment with a host of senior executives leaving and profits dwindling and it has responded to the crisis by bringing the HTC One to market, a phone that was met with overwhelmingly successful reviews even in the face of supply issues. However alienating loyal customers doesn’t seem like the best way to rebuild a failing  company.