The launch of HTC’s new flagship Android smartphone, the HTC One, will be delayed until the end of March, and in some cases the beginning of April.
The Taiwanese manufacturer had set March 15th – this Friday – as the launch date for the new handset, making a big fuss at the launch about the huge number of networks and countries around the world that would get it on that day.
Earlier today UK retailer Clove Technology confirmed that their SIM-free stock of the phone was delayed until the end of March. No real reason was given to the retailer, or at least not one that they could pass on to customers anyway. Their statement confirmed;
“We have today been advised officially by HTC that the UK launch date has been put back to the 29th March.”
HTC itself has now confirmed the delays in a statement, which reads “We will start fulfilling pre-orders by end [of] March in certain markets and will roll out to more markets as we approach April.”
It’s not a huge delay but one that will no doubt annoy those who pre-ordered the phone with hopes of getting it at the end of this week. Over in Germany O2 is now shipping the phone, and it appears they’re the first to be doing so anywhere in the world.
HTC hasn’t given an exact reason for the delay but in the weeks running up to now we’ve been hearing reports that shortages of he new UltraPixel camera component were running low, amongst other manufacturing problems. It could be that HTC wants to ensure enough stock is ready to go on launch day and so it’s going to give itself another few weeks to build up.