MWC 2014: HTC Desire 816 and Desire 610 bring minimalist style to the mid-range segment

While HTC’s new flagship isn’t expected to make an appearance at the MWC 2014, that doesn’t mean it’s a no-show from HTC. The company has unveiled two new Desire smartphones – Desire 816 and Desire 610. Both smartphones fall into the fiercely competitive mid-range market competing with the likes of Galaxy Grand 2 , Xperia M2, Grand 2 Neo and Moto G.

Bringing a large screen experience to the mid-range segment, the Desire 816 sports a 5.5-inch display. It’s powered by a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 processor clocked at 1.5GHz and coupled with 1.5GB of RAM. The 8GB onboard storage can be expanded further via microSD card slot. On the camera front, it gets a 13MP rear snapper and a 5MP front-facing camera. All of this is fuelled by a 2600mAh battery.

On the other hand, the Desire 610 is a more low-end model. It comes fitted with a 4.7-inch display. The device is powered by a 1.2GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 processor along with 1GB of RAM. The budget smartphone features an 8MP rear camera and a 1.3MP front-facing camera.  The 610 is also loaded with 8GB internal memory that is expandable via microSD card slot. This will be directly in competition against the Moto G.

As seen in the leaked Sense UI earlier, both devices come minus capacitive keys. So, one can expect on-screen buttons. The phones also feature BlinkFeed and dual-frontal speakers with BoomSound.

The Desire 816 is expected to launch in China next month and will reach other countries starting April. The Desire 610 is slated to launch in Europe in May.