HTC has kept relatively quiet on the smartphone front, since the release of the One M9 (review) back in June. While we await the impending arrival of the new One A9, HTC is bringing its mid-range Desire 626 to South African shores. 

The smartphone will be available locally by mid-November according to the Taiwanese manufacturer. The first operator to carry the device will be MTN, with it listed at R269 per month on contract. Along with the 24-month contract, MTN is throwing in an extra 30 GB of data as a once-off offer. For now, the non-contract price remains unknown. 

The Desire 626 may not have the design aesthetic of HTC's One lineup of devices, but is does feature a solid range of specs. Fitted with a 5" LCD (720x1280) up front, HTC has been talking up the smartphone's 13 MP primary camera, which is complemented by a 5 MP one on the flip side. Internally we find a respectable quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 processor, clocked at 1.2 GHz. HTC also has a Mediatek chipset version, which measures a faster 1.7 GHz, but sadly that version is limited to select regions. It also comes with 2 GB of RAM, 16 GB of onboard storage and a microSD slot for a further 32 GB of memory. 

Ticking all the necessary boxes based on early information, if HTC can get the non-contract price right, the Desire 626 could be a great mid-range offering.