HTC is officially expanding the availability of its HTC Desire family in the U.S., offering the Desire 610 and Desire 816 to more customers.
With the new Desire family, HTC aims to bring a premium experience in a more budget-friendly package, as the handsets come with mid-range specifications on board.
The HTC Desire 610 is already available in the U.S. through carrier AT&T for $199.99 off-contract, while the larger HTC Desire 816 will land on Virgin Mobile. Both devices will also be available unlocked directly from HTC, and they will hit various retail outlets as well by the end of the month. It's worth pointing out that the HTC Desire 610 on HTC's website currently appears as out of stock on AT&T GoPhone.
As a reminder, the HTC Desire 610 features a 4.7-inch display with a resolution of 540 x 960 pixels, a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 processor, 1GB of RAM, 8GB of internal storage capacity, and microSD card support for additional storage. Other specs include an 8-megapixel rear camera, a 1.3-megapixel front shooter, and a 2,040 mAh battery. On the software side, the handset runs Android 4.4.2 KitKat out of the box.
The larger HTC Desire 816, meanwhile, comes with a 5.5-inch HD display with a resolution of 1920 x 720 pixels, a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 processor clocked at 1.6GHz, 1.5GB of RAM, and 8GB of internal storage capacity. The handset further features a 13-megapixel rear camera, a 5-megapixel front shooter, a 2,600 mAh battery, and Android 4.4.2 KitKat with HTC Sense 6 UI on board. The HTC Desire 816 will become available from Virgin Mobile, as well as directly from HTC, starting on Aug. 12. This smartphone will cost $300.
"Design and innovation are what we're known for, and now we're taking that to new segments of the market with our HTC Desire line," said Erin McGee, Vice President of Marketing of HTC America. "We thought it was time that consumers had better smartphones to choose from across price points and payment options. We have partnered with a number of retailers to ensure that these HTC Desire line of products are not only affordable, but also accessible."
