We've known since last week the HTC One won't launch on time and has been delayed until late-March and early April for some regions. Now, HTC executives have painted a picture on the situation, saying issues with component suppliers is causing it to ship the flagship later than originally hoped.

HTC sent us a confirmation earlier this month: "We will start fulfilling pre-orders by end March in certain markets and will roll out to more markets as we approach April."

But an unnamed HTC executive went further, telling The Wall Street Journal: "The company has a problem managing its component suppliers as it has changed its order forecasts drastically and frequently following last year’s unexpected slump in shipments.”

HTC has seen a slump over the last few years, which it hopes the One will take it out of. Apparently, HTC didn't notify suppliers that it thinks the One will do quite well. 

The executive went on to say garnering camera components had been one of the biggest issues with suppliers: “HTC has had difficulty in securing adequate camera components as it is no longer a tier-one customer.” On the One, HTC  has an advanced UltraPixel camera technology, which appears to be to blame. 

In a somewhat surprising move, the Journal says Peter Chou pledged to other executives at a meeting last year that if the HTC One didn't perform well, he would step down. In our review of the HTC One, we noted it was the best phone the company had made yet, thanks to attention to detail and a bit of innovation.

The question is if HTC can persuade customers to purchase its flagship over Samsung's Galaxy S4 launching in April, Apple's iPhone 5, and others.