After launching its first Android phone last year, BlackBerry is apparently cooking up a couple more Android devices for 2016.
BlackBerry CEO John Chen has confirmed that his company will launch two new Android smartphones this year. They’ll both be mid-range devices, Chen said, with one offering a physical keyboard and the other being a full touch device. None of the devices other features were mentioned, though.
The BlackBerry Priv is a pretty high-end phone, but it’s not selling quite as well as some have predicted, which Chen blames on its price. “A lot of enterprise customers have said to us, ‘I want to buy your phone but $700 is a little too steep for me. I’m more interested in a $400 device’,” Chen said that he’s been told.
The Priv has been the subject of praise since its launch, but because it’s a high-end phone, it’s probably a bit too costly for some businesses to roll out in large quantities to their employees. A $400 mid-range phone will better suit the needs of those businesses. BlackBerry’s Priv is a nice-looking phone, so it’ll be interesting to see what BlackBerry cooks up for its two mid-range phones.
