Report: flat sales could force HTCto cut One M9 component orders by 30%

HTC had a lousy April and analysts think it’s because customers aren’t interested in the One M9.

Citing “sources at Taiwan’s handset supply chain,” electronics industry publication Digitimes says lower than expected sales of the One M9 could force HTCto reduce component orders by up to 30 percent. Said sources characterized the M9 sales as “flat,” which is bad news for a device that has been on the market for less than two months.

Digitimes’ supply chain sources aren’t always reliable and this could turn out to be just speculation from someone without direct knowledge of what happens at HTC(the company declined to comment).

But the report fits with analysts’ assessments from earlier this month and HTC’s own figures for April: despite the One M9 launching on April 10, last month was the worst April in six years for HTC, with revenue falling 33 percent from March 2015 and 39 percent compared to April 2014.

Given that new phones typically sell the fastest in the first weeks of availability, it looks unlikely that the One M9 will ever perform any better.

The One M9 had a lot of bad press due to alleged performance issues with the Snapdragon 810 processor, but the lack of any major changes compared to the M8 is probably why customers aren’t really excited about the device. Not even HTCseems confident in the M9. At least in Asia, the company is promoting the M9+ and E9+ instead.