It’s still not entirely clear if supply issues are going to leave the Taiwanese manufacturer in the lurch come Friday when their new flagship: the HTC One is set to launch, but they’ve now issued a statement trying to ease any concerns about availability of the new Android handset.
We met the HTC One back in February where we were able to go hands-on with the device aiming to set the standard for the company’s 2013 smartphone line going forward. At the time we were wowed by new design, impressive screen, new user interface and interesting new camera technology, but outside of the somewhat artificial environment of a launch party, the HTC One looks like it could face some truly real world problems.
Talk of delays emerged out of Taiwan last week when it turned out that elements of the HTC One’s new UltraPixel camera module were in short supply. With availability of two specific components at only 20%-30% of where they need to be, an analyst from KGI says that the company will only be able to produce somewhere between 800,000 and 1.2 million units in its opening months.
In light of growing fears that demand for the new flagship won’t be met, the company issued the following statement to us:
“We will start fulfilling pre-orders by the end of March in certain markets and will roll out product to more markets as we approach April. “
HTC have lost significant market share since 2009, predominantly to their Korean neighbours Samsung and as such a lot is riding on the success of the HTC One, a handset which in truth they can’t afford to stifle at launch with supply issues.
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