The chief executive of HTC has handed some operational duties to the company’s chairman and co-founder, as the beleaguered Taiwanese smartphone maker tries to claw its way back to prominence in the hyper-competitive mobile sector.

In what is being presented as a temporary move, Peter Chou, chief executive, is focusing on product development. Cher Wang, who has remained closely involved with HTC since co-founding the company in 1997, has stepped up her day-to-day duties to include sales, marketing and supplier relationships.

“I have become very focused in the past couple of months. Before that I was too busy,” Mr Chou said in an interview with the Financial Times. “I took on too many things. I need to be more focused on innovation and [the] product portfolio.”