The head of HTC’s smartphone and connected devices business, Chialin Chang, is leaving the company in order to pursue his “personal career plan”, with the struggling vendor yet to name a replacement for the role.

Chang was originally HTC’s CFO, subsequently adding responsibility for global sales to his remit. He became president of smartphone and connected devices in mid-2016. Taiwanese press reports state the executive is set to establish an artificial intelligence (AI) start-up.

He is not the only recent high-profile departure. David Chen, COO, resigned in January to join Google’s project team – as HTC completed the sale of a chunk of smartphone assets to the search giant.

While much of HTC’s attention is focused on VR, where it is seeking to turn an early-mover position into a competitive advantage, the smartphone business is still a key driver for the company. With the recent sale of assets to Google, it will be important for the company to signal some momentum in this market.

Figures released this week by Taiwan-based market intelligence company TrendForce place HTC’s output at fewer than 10 million smartphones in 2017. Following the Google deal, the vendor’s product development and design capabilities will be weakened and, apart from an already designed flagship, “HTC will probably rely on outsourced OEM, making the production volume lower”, the research company asserted.

With HTC’s smartphone business shrinking, it is perhaps unsurprising its president took the opportunity to move on.