HTC has revealed that its 2013 flagship smartphone the
One has
been delayed by at least two weeks, leading to an April launch, reports
CNET. It was originally scheduled to hit the market on March 15, but only pre-orders will now be shipping before the end of the month. It is thought that
parts shortages, as well as the complex 200-minute process required to cut and machine the sleek aluminum case on the One has led to production yield issues.
"We will start fulfilling pre-orders by end March in certain markets and will roll out to more markets as we approach April," reads the official company statement on the matter.
The delay, albeit a relatively short one, has could not have come at a worse time for HTC. It has been in
steep decline financially over the past two years as it struggles to cope with the onslaught from Samsung in the Android space, and Apple. This has left HTC marginalized as it struggles to capture the interest and attention of smartphone buyers, just as Samsung is poised to launch its highly anticipated Galaxy S4.
Early reviews of the HTC One have been largely positive, praising the One's 1080p 4.7-inch display as well as the speed of the Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 quad-core CPU powering it. Although some have been critical of HTC's 'Blink Feed' live home screen, others have been impressed with its overall design and functionality.
In related news,
HTC has announced that it has also prepped a limited run One Developer Edition that will only be available to customers with a US postal address. Unlike the standard One model, the Developer Edition will ship with its SIM and Bootloader unlocked as well as include open APIs for Bluetooth, Infrared and other hardware features. The Developer Edition will retail for $649 outright and will come with 64GB of internal storage.
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