A couple of years ago, BlackBerry announced that it was outsourcing manufacturing of mid-range smartphones to contract manufacturers in a bid to save its ailing smartphone business. Rumor has it that the company is working with TCL Corporation for the mid-range Hamburg smartphone and now a TCL-made BlackBerry Hamburg has surfaced online, suggesting that this partnership is indeed real.
TCL Corporation is in the business of producing smartphones. It already produces them under the Alcatel brand, and if contracted, it will be manufacturing handsets for BlackBerry under the Canadian company’s branding.
A new listing at the Wi-Fi Alliance reveals that TCL has received certification for a new handset named DTEK 50 with model number STH100-2 (RJD211LW). The device is powered by Android Marshmallow with build number AAF295.
This means that either there’s a lot of coincidence in this listing or it’s now confirmed that BlackBerry and TCL are collaborating on a handset. There has been no official confirmation of a partnership between both companies so take all of this with a grain of salt for now until there’s an official announcement.
BlackBerry hasn’t confirmed yet when it’s going to come out with new handsets. It has been a while since the company released new smartphones and it’s expected to come out with a couple of handsets later this year.
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