HTC has announced the Desire 820, the replacement of the mid-range Desire 816. The new Android device is powered by a 64-bit ARMv8 SoC, and is the first to adopt Qualcomm's Snapdragon 615. The Desire 820 is similar to its predecessor, featuring colorful plastic backs and a front sporting HTC's Boomsound speakers on the top and bottom. The new smartphone also retains the same 5.5" 1280x720 display and 9.88Whr internal battery.

Under the hood there is Qualcomm's Snapdragon 615 which sports 8 Cortex A53 cores in two clusters. One cluster of 4 cores is optimized for high performance, running at 1.5GHz, and the other is optimized for low power and runs at 1.0GHz. This is the first device to ship with Snapdragon 615, and one of the first 64-bit Android devices with the ARMv8 instruction set. However, support for 64-bit under Android won't exist until Android L ships later this year.

The Desire 820 also uses 2GB of RAM and an 8MP front facing camera. Communications are handled by the Qualcomm MDM9x25 modem solution , which includes 5GHz band support on 802.11n and aptX audio support over Bluetooth.

The Desire 820 will be available through mobile operators and major retailers in China from late September. In selected markets, the phone will also be available with dual SIM card support.Though HTC did not reveal the pricing for the Desire 820, it did say that the new large-screen model will carry a price tag similar to that of the Desire 816, which starts from US$299.