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Disastrous delays to the HTC One have seen HTC plummet to its lowest profits ever.
Taiwan company High Tech Computers made 85m New Taiwan dollars (£1.8m) profit in the first three months of the year amid crippling delays to the flagship One phone.
That’s a jaw-dropping plummet from NT$1bn (£22m) profit at the end of last year. And this cliff-jumping fall marks the sixth quarter in a row that profits have tumbled. How could things go so disastrously wrong for the company that once defined Android?
It mostly comes down to the flagship HTC One Android smart phone being later for its planned curtain call than Axl Rose with a migraine. The hotly anticipated One has had a troubled path to shops shelves, with delays to production as suppliers prioritised other phone manufacturers for parts. Falling sales mean HTC is no longer considered a ‘tier one’, premier league manufacturer by the suppliers of CMOS sensor camera components for the One’s bold 4-megapixel ‘Ultrapixel’ snapper, causing the phone to miss its UK release date of 15 March.
The One was supposed to be in eighty countries by now but has limped into just three, and won’t hit the US and Asia until the end of April — wiping out its headstart over its biggest rival the Samsung Galaxy S4, which kicks down shop doors on 26 April.
It’ll be a real shame if production delays prevent the One from fulfilling its potential, because it’s a more than decent phone, if lacking that certain sparkle. Press play on our video below to see the One in action.
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HTC One
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Other new phones on the way include the HTC One SV, although with its weaker specs than the One and an expensive 4G contract it’s not the best value phone around.
Is HTC doomed? Is the One the One that you want? Have you got your hands on your order yet? Tell me one true thing in the comments or on our Facebook page.
