The HTC One smartphone
The award-winning HTC One smartphone will not be reaching users this month as expected but instead will start shipping next month as the company misses its deadline due to component shortages.
The Wall Street Journal reports that certain retailers were expected to start selling the HTC One by the third week of March, but HTC’s chief marketing officer Benjamin Ho has said, “We will start fulfilling pre-orders by the end of March in certain markets and will roll out to more markets as we approach April.”
The company’s inability to source the necessary metal casings, camera parts and other components to meet demand has, by one executive, been attributed to HTC’s declining status as “no longer a tier-one customer”.
The delayed flagship smartphone received the GSMA award for best new mobile device at Mobile World Congress just after its unveiling in February. The all-metal device features a 4.7-inch full-HD display, all-new BlinkFeed interface for the home screen, and an UltraPixel camera.
While the HTC One has some exciting specs, it will now struggle to pull attention away from the worldwide release of Android rival Samsung’s Galaxy S4.
