HTC is delaying the rollout of its new flagship smartphone, the HTC One. According to a report by The Wall Street Journal, retail distributors and telecom operators including Vodafone and Best Buy have reported that HTC has informed them about delays in shipments of the phone.
The report says that HTC executives attribute the delays to component shortages including that of camera parts and metal casings. The report also quotes an unnamed HTC executive who said that the company was facing problems in managing its component suppliers as it "changed its order forecasts drastically and frequently following last year's unexpected slump in shipments."
Interestingly the executive further elaborates that "HTC has had difficulty in securing adequate camera components as it is no longer a tier-one customer."
Earlier, the company had issued a statement mentioning that it would start fulfilling pre-orders by end March in certain markets and will roll out to more markets as it approaches April.
The report also says that last year, HTC CEO Peter Chou had told senior executives that he would step down if the company's new smartphone doesn't succeed, citing people familiar with the development.
This comes as bad news for the company which has already witnessed a 41 percent decline in its sale, with its profits going down 91 percent in the last quarter. The company's new offering will face stiff competition from Samsung's recently announced Galaxy S4 smartphone.
HTC had announced the launch of the HTC One in February. The phone comes with a 4.7-inch full-HD display with 468 pixels per inch packed in an aluminium unibody. It is powered by a 1.7GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 processor alongside 2GB of RAM. It will come in Grey, Black and Red colours with 32GB and 64GB storage options, but without expandable storage. Connectivity options include Wi-Fi 802.11 a/ac/b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS, NFC, Infrared and Micro-USB. HTC One runs a completely overhauled Sense UI atop Android 4.1 Jelly Bean.
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