Expect red Dr Dre-endorsed earphones to be draped around upcoming HTC phones and tablets this year, as the Taiwanese phone maker buys up a hefty stake in audio gear maker Beats Electronics to differentiate itself from rival phone makers.

HTC’s US$309 million investment will give it a 51 per cent stake in the brand made famous by rapper Dr Dre, the phone maker revealed today.

It will also enable HTC to include Beats Audio technology - proven in good if expensive headphones as well as Beats-powered HP laptops – in its mobile devices come Fall 2011.

As PCMag smartly points out, HTC’s move is not as much about the well-known Beats Audio technology as it is about buying street cred in a race to win over non-techie users.

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Mention Monster and many an audio buff would launch into how over-priced its speaker and audio cables are – they go up to the thousands of dollars.

What about the company’s earphones and headphones, which have been getting good vibes among many users? Well, the latest range from the Beats range endorsed by Dr Dre are not bad at all, as I listened to them today at a launch here in Singapore, but price comes into the argument again. Yes, they are too expensive.

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