As if HTC didn’t already have too many problems, and with the HTC One being its last hope to change course from a rapid decline to at least stabilization of its sales and revenue, it looks like they won’t even be able to manufacture a lot of HTC One devices, even if the demand is there. In fact, analysts say that the supply of HTC One could be cut by up to 80% because it’s hard to procure some components for their innovative ultra-pixel camera module.
The yields for the camera module seem to be around 20% of what was initially expected. What this means is that HTC will only be able to ship between 800,000-1.2 million HTC One units in the next few months. This is why HTC is now delaying the launch of the HTC One in smaller markets, just so they can sell enough of them in markets such as US. Even rather big markets for HTC such as China and Japan are going to see the launch delayed until May, which is about 2 months late compared to the expected global launch of March 15th.
The worst part about this is that not only did HTC need the cashflow to keep paying their employees in the next few months, and a boost in sales thanks to the HTC One could’ve made that much easier, but it also means that HTC won’t be able to do a big marketing push for the HTC One in the first few months after its launch. They won’t be able to do that because they can’t ship that many anyway, and because they won’t have the money for it either.
So that leaves them with promoting it months into the HTC One’s life, when a lot of people have already forgotten about it, and are buying the Galaxy S4, or are looking forward to the next Nexus or some other device from other companies. To make matters worse, HTC has also promised that HTC One will be their only flagship for the year, and a flagship that gets little promotion at launch, is going to be hard to promote later in the year. Maybe that HTC Nexus that I hope is going to happen will save them.
[Via FocusTaiwan]