Next BlackBerry Android Smartphone Will Be Cheaper

Earlier this year BlackBerry released its first ever Android-powered smartphone, making the inevitable shift over to Google’s mobile platform in a last ditch effort to plug the losses of its hardware business. The BlackBerry Priv appears to be performing better than its BlackBerry 10 OS powered counterparts did last year and the company makes it clear that it’s not done yet. Not only will it release another Android-powered handset, but the upcoming device will be cheaper than the Priv.

The Priv is priced right in the flagship territory, around $699 for an unlocked model, though there are deals to be had at retailers which can knock down the price a bit. It does have the specification to match but customers may not want to spend so much money on a device that BlackBerry has never done before, as far as the operating system goes.

During its latest quarterly earnings report BlackBerry revealed that more than 700,000 units of the Priv have been sold during the quarter and that it’s going to release the handset in 31 additional markets over the next few months.

In a recent interview with Bloomberg the company CEO John Chen was asked about BlackBerry’s future hardware plans and if Android would figure in them. Chen mentioned that a new handset is in the pipeline which is going to be running Android, and also said that it’s going to be priced much more attractively as opposed to the Priv, so we’re probably looking at a mid-range handset.

Adnan Farooqui
Categories: Cellphones
Tags: Android, BlackBerry, blackberry priv, John Chen