The BlackBerry Priv was seen as the finest offering from BlackBerry, but the failure of the phone has surprised many within the company.
It was seen as a last-ditch attempt from the outside, but BlackBerry recently hinted at bringing out more mid-range smartphones in the hope of keeping up sales volumes. They seem to be standing by the word, as rumors of the Canadian company preparing three devices for launches in the next few months.
The Priv manages to fuse almost every hit feature from other smartphones and combined them with aspects that BlackBerry have always been known for – physical full QWERTY keyboard, outstanding security aspects, and rugged build quality. Yet, the Priv was let down by a huge sticker price. Even though the price has fallen significantly on third-party retailers, it has not been enough to convince new buyers to look past the regular lineup of Samsung or HTC devices.
The company is reportedly working on three devices, which have been codenamed as argon, mercury, and neon. These phones will be made in partnership with Alcatel.
It is straightaway evident that the Neon will be positioned as a mid-range device since it is expected to come with a 5.2-inch screen with full HD resolution. It appears to lack the physical full QWERTY keyboard, which has become a trademark of BlackBerry phones. The phone will come with 3 GB of RAM and a snapdragon 617 processor. The internal storage will be only around 16 GB, but BlackBerry is expected to compensate for the lower storage by providing aspects like a 2610 mAh battery with quick charge ability.
The BlackBerry Argon will be a slightly more expensive version since it is expected to come with aspects like a 5.5 inch display with QHD resolution, snapdragon 820 processor, 4 GB of RAM, internal storage of 32 GB, and quick charging feature on a 3000 mAh battery. Furthermore, the phone also has a USB Type-C port and a fingerprint scanner according to rumors. The rear camera should have a 21-megapixel sensor while the front camera would have an eight-megapixel sensor.
The BlackBerry Mercuryis not expected to arrive until the start of 2017, and it largely focuses on providing the sole feature missed on the BlackBerry Argon – physical full QWERTY keyboard. Aside from this aspect, it is rumored that the BlackBerry Mercury will be similar in several aspects to the Argon.