Check out our full review of the HTC One smart phone.
March is steadily worsening for HTC, as less than a week ago it reported its worst sales performance figures since 2010, and a 44 percent drop in revenue over this time last year. The impending release of its new flagship Android phone was the bright point, and while no specific date had been discussed, it was widely expected to arrive in international stores around the middle of March.
Sadly, this date has been replaced with one towards the end of the month at the earliest, and HTC hasn’t committed to exactly where or when the One will appear. The company’s official statement isn’t all that enlightening, as it merely states, “We will start fulfilling pre-orders by end March in certain markets and will roll out to more markets as we approach April.”
British online retailer Clove Technology has offered a more precise date than this, indicating that while it expected the HTC One to go on sale in the UK on March 15, it’s now expecting the first shipments to arrive ready for March 29. A check of EE’s website reveals the HTC One is available as a pre-order, and while it initially quoted a mid-March release, it now carries a 28 day wait time before it’ll be delivered. As for the U.S., AT&T, T-Mobile and Sprint will all stock the HTC One, but none have provided any clues as to when this will happen.
With all attention focused on the announcement of the Galaxy S4 this week, news of the HTC One’s delay couldn’t have come at a worse time. Plus, if the release date is deep into April for the U.S., it could find itself joining Samsung’s flagship phone on the shelves, or worse, sometime afterwards.
Unlocked HTC One Developer Edition announced
In related HTC One news, the company has announced the forthcoming availability of a Developer Edition of the phone, which will come SIM-free and with an unlocked bootloader. While most regular users won’t care about such things, developers wanting to test applications (or dedicated fans wanting to play about with the Android OS) will welcome such a device. It’ll only be available to U.S. customers who’re happy to hand over the $650 the phone costs, and HTC says the Developer Edition will go on sale when the standard HTC One hits the shops.
We liked the HTC One when we got the chance to try it out at the launch event, so take a look at our hands-on test here.
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