HTC Refreshes Mid-Range Desire Smartphone Lineup With Snapdragon 210 SoC, LTE

by Brandon Hill — Wednesday, July 15, 2015, 09:15 AM EDT

HTC isn’t exactly at the top of its game these days. The company’s flagship One M9, while competent, has failed to reverse its weakening position in the smartphone market. Competition from the likes of Apple (with the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus) and Samsung (with the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge) has been incredibly fierce, with Apple dominating the smartphone market in profits.

With HTC not having much luck at the high-end, the company is moving down a few rungs by sprucing up its popular, mid-range Desire lineup. The new smartphones include the Desire 520, Desire 526, Desire 626, and Desire 626s. The new Desire family carries on the same design theme that we’ve seen for the past three years on the flagship One family (albeit constructed primarily from plastic instead of metal), and all bring with them Qualcomm Snapdragon 210 processors and LTE connectivity.

The Desire is the runt of the litter, featuring a 4.5-inch 854x480 display, 1GB of RAM, and 8GB of internal storage. You’ll also find an 8MP rear camera and 2MP front-facing camera. The Desire 526 kicks things up a notch with a 4.7-inch (960x540) display, 1.5GB of RAM, and 8GB of storage. As for the cameras, you’ll find the same units that grace the Desire 520.

HTC Desire 626

The Desire 626s comes with a 5-inch HD display (1280x720), 1GB of RAM, and 8GB of internal storage. The rear camera remains an 8MP unit, but the selfie camera gets a boost to 5MP. Last but not least is the Desire 626, which is spec’d identically to the Desire 626s with the exception of bringing 1.5GB of RAM to the table.

The Desire 520 will be available exclusively on Cricket, while the Desire 526 is tied only to Verizon Wireless’ prepaid service. The Desire 626, on the other hand, will be available on America’s four largest wireless carriers in addition to Boost, Cricket, MetroPCS, and Virgin Mobile. The Desire 626s is available exclusively on Tracfone.

Pricing is not yet known (as it will vary widely depending on the carrier), but all are expected to carry a retail price tag below $200.

Tags: HTC, Qualcomm, desire 520, desire 526, desire 626, desire 626s, snapdragon 210

Brandon Hill

Brandon received his first PC, an IBM Aptiva 310, in 1994 and hasn’t looked back since. He cut his teeth on computer building/repair working at a mom and pop computer shop as a plucky teen in the mid 90s and went on to join AnandTech as the Senior News Editor in 1999. Brandon would later help to form DailyTech where he served as Editor-in-Chief from 2008 until 2014. Brandon is a tech geek at heart, and family members always know where to turn when they need free tech support. When he isn’t writing about the tech hardware or studying up on the latest in mobile gadgets, you’ll find him browsing forums that cater to his long-running passion: automobiles.

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