BlackBerry Chief Operating Officer (COO) Ralph Pini announced on July 5, Tuesday that the company will stop producing Blackberry Classic smartphones, which is another sign the company is phasing out its famous physical QWERTY keyboards for inputting text. The Canadian company is also taking steps to move away from BBOS devices to Android and BlackBerry 10 phones. During the next three quarters the handset maker will reportedly launch three new Android phones.
Pini reported the news in a blog post. He shared that Classic has been a "workhorse device" for its customers, and the phone model has lasted longer than the average smartphone lifespan. Nevertheless, it is time for the company to provide better products for its customers.
BlackBerry will stop producing several BlackBerry OS 10 devices. They include Q10, Z10, Z30, Passport, and Classic.
Gartner reports that BlackBerry only made up 0.2 percent of all global smartphone sales in Q1 2016.
The company shared that there will be a smooth move between BBOS and Android handsets. In addition, the high quality of security and operations will not be relinquished.
Blackberry has not made any official statements about new devices. However, a source that knows the company's plans shared that it will launch three phones during the next year.
The phone codenamed Neon will reportedly feature a 1080-pixel 5.2-inch touch screen display. It will also include a Snapdragon 617 processor, 3GB of RAM, 16GB of internal storage, 13MP rear camera, and 2160 mAh battery, according to BGR. Neon is expected to go on sale this summer with a budget price tag.
Argon is the second phone. The device will reportedly include a 5.5-inch Quad HD display. It will also have 4GB of RAM, 32GB of internal storage, 3000 mAh battery, and 21MP rear camera. Argon will likely launch in October.
Mercury is the third phone. It will reportedly be launched in 2017, feature a physical keyboard, and include average tech specs.
In related news, The United States Senate recently reported that it will stop providing staffers with BlackBerry mobile devices, according to Fortune. The upper chamber of the US Congress has about 600 BlackBerry devices left in its inventory, and will switch to Apple's iPhone SE and Samsung's Galaxy S6.
Here's a review of BlackBerry Priv: