HTC One delays down to 'Ultrapixel' camera, HTC confirms

Delays to HTC's new flagship smart phone were down to component problems in the camera department, the Taiwanese tech giant has confirmed.

As previously rumoured, the HTC One's 'Ultrapixel' camera has been proving troublesome for factories to wrap their bonces around, it would seem. Speaking to the Wall Street Journal, HTC exec Benjamin Ho is quoted as saying, "Our friends in the media have been asking why there has been a delay in shipments for the new HTC One, whether there is a component shortage.

"There is some shortage," the company bigwig reportedly said, "Because the phone's camera was designed specifically for us, and production cannot be ramped up so quickly."

That's a little odd, as there's no great mystery to the HTC One's Ultrapixel camera -- it's a 4-megapixel sensor with the same physical dimensions as the One X's 8-megapixel camera. That means each individual pixel on the sensor is bigger, thereby letting in more light and -- in theory -- making for better low-light snaps.

That doesn't sound like something that would be much harder than usual to manufacture, although there are many different aspects to a smart phone's camera, and many bits that could potentially face a hardware hiccup.

Last week an unnamed HTC insider supposedly told the Journal that the delay was down to HTC losing its position as a 'tier one' company, which doesn't sound much like Ho's reasoning that the camera was delayed because it's so bespoke and fancy.

The One's snapper proved pretty decent in our testing, especially in macro mode and with the flash on, but in normal conditions it proved no match for the iPhone 5. Much of its appeal comes in its innovative Zoe mode, which gives you all kinds of cool effects to play with.

The HTC One is on sale in the UK this week -- will it be a success? Or will it wilt in the shadow of the Samsung Galaxy S4? Let me know in the comments, or on our Facebook wall.