HTC brings new affordable Desire Android smartphones to US

HTC Desire 626 526

To get more consumer attention, a smartphone vendor has to cover all major segments well. It has to have solid low-end handsets, balanced mid-rangers, and, of course, cutting-edge flagships in its lineup. HTC does the last part well in US, with One M9, but, outside of this segment, its presence is not as strong.

HTC wants to change this, announcing four new Desire Android smartphones for the US market, which it hopes will get the attention of consumers on increasingly popular prepaid plans. Desire 520, Desire 526, Desire 626s and Desire 626 borrow design elements from the One M9 flagship, but at much lower price levels.

"At HTC, we don’t think you should have to sacrifice or settle if you are looking for an affordable smartphone. That is why we are bringing the absolute best affordable smartphones to market with the HTC Desire lineup", says HTC America president Jason Mackenzie. "Our Desire smartphones bring the premium experiences, performance and style of our flagship smartphone at an incredible price". Question is, will consumers find them attractive enough to buy them?

Based on specs, the new Desire handsets are meant to fit in the mid-range to low-end smartphone market, where consumers do not have as high of expectations as those shopping in the actual mid-range and high-end segments. Of course, all come with 4G LTE support.

The best of the bunch is Desire 626, which packs a 5-inch HD display (resolution of 720 by 1,280), 1.1 GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 210 processor, 1.5 GB of RAM, 8 MP main camera, 5 MP front shooter, 16 GB of internal storage, microSD card slot, and a 2,000 mAh battery as the main highlights. Desire 626 comes slightly below it, with 1 GB of RAM, 8 GB of internal storage and a 2 MP front-facing camera.

At the other end of the spectrum lies Desire 520. It has a smaller 4.5-inch display (resolution of 480 by 854), same processor as the aforementioned two devices, 1 GB of RAM; 8 MP main camera, 2 MP camera on the front, 8 GB of internal storage, microSD card slot, and also a 2,000 mAh battery.

To differentiate its offerings from the rest of the crowd, apart from the exterior design, HTC is betting on its software customizations to do the talking. There is Sense 7 on board, theming support, Zoe Highlights, BlinkFeed, and Android 5.1 Lollipop running the show. Business as usual, then.

If you are interested in getting one of the four new Desire handsets, HTC says that they will be available shortly (once mobile operators announce, starting this week, which models they will carry). Partner carriers include AT&T, Boost Mobile, Cricket, MetroPCS, Sprint, T-Mobile, Tracfone, Verizon and Virgin Mobile.

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