HTC chairwoman Cher Wang has taken over the role of CEO from Peter Chou at the recovering smartphone maker.

Chou, who founded the company in 1997 with Wang, will remain at the vendor as head of the HTC Future Development Lab, the company said in a statement.

Insiders say the move comes as no surprise since over the last two years Wang has been increasingly involved in the running of the company. Chou, who has a reputation of having obsessive attention to detail, has faced strong criticism as the Taiwanese company has struggled to launch blockbuster devices.

HTC recently reported its first year-on-year quarterly revenue increase for several years. This was attributed to “the ability to offer tailored product mixes at suitable price points”.

It said in early February it was set to report another quarter of year-on-year sales growth, indicating signs of a turnaround despite continued fierce competition in the smartphone market. The company is forecasting Q1 2015 sales of TWD41.5 billion to TWD45 billion ($1.32 billion to $1.43 billion), significantly improved compared with the TWD33.1 billion seen in the first quarter of 2014. It is also looking to record an operating profit compared with an earlier-year loss.

Earlier this month at Mobile World Congress it debuted its latest flagship device, One M9, as it looks to win some of the smartphone limelight from Android market leader Samsung and its Galaxy S6.