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HTC One faces shipment delays, may hit stores in April

The company said it will start fulfilling preorders by the end of the month, with a rollout to more markets in April.

Roger Cheng Former Executive Editor / Head of News
Roger Cheng (he/him/his) was the executive editor in charge of CNET News, managing everything from daily breaking news to in-depth investigative packages. Prior to this, he was on the telecommunications beat and wrote for Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal for nearly a decade and got his start writing and laying out pages at a local paper in Southern California. He's a devoted Trojan alum and thinks sleep is the perfect -- if unattainable -- hobby for a parent.
Expertise Mobile, 5G, Big Tech, Social Media Credentials
  • SABEW Best in Business 2011 Award for Breaking News Coverage, Eddie Award in 2020 for 5G coverage, runner-up National Arts & Entertainment Journalism Award for culture analysis.
Roger Cheng
The HTC One. Sarah Tew/CNET

It looks like there's more bad news down the pike for HTC and its One flagship phone.

The handset vendor said today it is pushing back the phone's arrival of preorders in certain markets to the end of the month, with a formal rollout to other markets in April, according to a company representative. HTC told CNET last week that Singapore wouldn't get the One until April.

HTC previously targeted the phone to launch globally this month.

It's another setback for a company that can ill afford another hiccup. HTC has struggled to turn around its flagging profit and sales, and had its hopes pegged to the One to reverse its fortunes.

HTC gave no reason for the delay, but it could potentially be the complicated process of manufacturing the all-metal frame around the phone. The company told CNET last month that each body takes roughly 200 minutes to cut and process the front and rear parts of each unit.

HTC is also running into a bad bit of timing, with Samsung Electronics scheduled to show off its Galaxy S4 at an event in New York on Thursday.