that now owns BlackBerry's smartphone business is likely showcase at least one BlackBerry smartphone during the CES 2017 event. The device is rumored to launch as BlackBerry Mercury and it will is expected to feature QWERTY keyboard and a 4.5-inch screen.
Several years ago, there were loyal fans for BlackBerry smartphones. However, in recent times, there has been in a decline in sales as more competitive smartphones have gained popularity. This has caused BlackBerry to sell its smartphone business to Alcatel.
In a recent interview, the BlackBerry CEO, John Chen confirmed that the company will not continue to manufacture phones from now on. The Canadian company also shared that it is selling the brand to TCL. Hence TCL it will take over the development and sales for the BlackBerry devices. TCL also owns Alcatel smartphone brand.
TCL confirmed this information and shared their plan to release new BlackBerry devices during the CES 2017 event. The Chinese company is said to come up with better innovations for BlackBerry devices that will be revealed in the next month. The recently released BlackBerry DTEK50 and DTEK60 are rebranded TCL smartphones.
It was rumored earlier, that BlackBerry is busy working on its upcoming upper mid-range smartphone. The device is said to be an upgraded version of BlackBerry DTEK 60. The upcoming device is alleged to be DTEK70. The smartphone is internally codenamed as Mercury.
The device has been in rumors some time back, and was spotted on Geekbench that revealed some of its key specs. It is said to come with QWERTY keyboard, a feature that is absent in its DTEK50, and DTEK60 phone models. DTEK70 Mercury will be the last smartphone that will be released by BlackBerry, Gizmo China reported.
BlackBerry Mercury leaked photo
BlackBerry Mercury Specifications, Features
As mentioned earlier, the device is rumored to come with 4.5-inch screen. According to previous leaks, the phone is likely to come with 3 GB of RAM and 32 GB internal storage.
BlackBerry Mercury, is speculated to come powered by Snapdragon 625 chipset. Earlier rumors had claimed that the smartphone would be coming with Snapdragon 821 chipset. The device will be running on the recently released Nougat 7.0 update and come with some changes in security settings for the device.
The phone is expected to come with 18-megapixel rear camera, and 8-megapixel front facing camera. It is said to come with fingerprint sensor embedded in the spacebar and come packed with 3,400mAh battery, NDTV Gadgets 360 reported. It is expected to be available in the U.S. through Verizon.
Here is the review of BlackBerry DTEK60: