BlackBerry plots to release two mid-range Android smartphones this year

Nathan Ernest Olupot April 11, 2016

Less than a minute

After launching the Blackberry Priv last year on November 6th, Blackberry Ltd. is reportedly cooking up on two mid-range Android smartphones, that are expected to be released by the end of this year.

During an exclusive interview to The National website, John S. Chen, Blackberry CEO, said that one smartphone will sport a full touchscreen and the other will come with a QWERTY keyboard.

In terms of specs, nothing else was mentioned. He further added that the phones will be priced around $300 (1,005,000 UGX) to $400 (1,340,000 UGX).

First Post reports that John also spoke about the Priv and how it was “too high-end product” for the enterprise and that’s the reason as to why it has received a recent price cut. So, the price is slashed to $649 (2,174,150 UGX) from $699 (2,341,650 UGX).

CEO John S. Chen during the launch of the Blackberry Priv. Image Credit: DigitalTrends

According to ZDNet, news of the new BlackBerry devices comes after a disappointing earnings report from BlackBerry in early April. The company reported 600,000 handsets during the first quarter of 2016, below an analyst consensus of 850,000.

It’s not clear how many of those devices were the high-end Priv, rather than lower-priced handsets in developing markets.
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