BlackBerry is set to debut its first Android-powered smartphone, the BlackBerry Priv, in India on Jan. 28.
John Chen, the CEO of BlackBerry, officially announced the slider phone in late September 2015 and it was released in North America in November 2015.
In December 2015, BlackBerry launched the device in some select European destinations such as Germany and the UK. While earlier in January this year, the mobile phone also made way to Spain, Netherlands, Italy and Spain.
Now, BlackBerry has sent out press invites for an event scheduled on Jan. 28 in New Delhi, which will mark the official arrival of Priv in India.
"The power of BlackBerry is now on Android. Priv combines everything you've come to expect from BlackBerry with the full eco-system of Android apps," says the media invite. "Please join us for the India unveiling of Priv, the secure smartphone powered by Android."
According to the International Data Corporation India is one of the biggest Smartphone markets in the world. IDC reports that 28.3 million smartphones were shipped to India in Q3 2015, which is a significant increase from 23.3 million units in the same period of 2014.
The research firm predicts that the Indian smartphone market will witness a double-digit growth rate in the next few years.
With 24 percent of the market share in India, Samsung is the top vendor in the country. Micromax, Intex and Lenovo are in the second, third and fourth positions respectively.
While entry-to-mid level phones are more common in India, many people still purchase high-end phones. And BlackBerry wants to grab that portion of the growing Indian smartphone with the launch of the Priv.
The top-notch features of the Priv have enticed many mobile phone enthusiasts – the phone sports a 5.4-inch AMOLED display with a resolution of 1,440 x 2,560 pixels and 540 ppi.
A hexa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 808 processor clocked at 1.8 GHz and 3 GB of RAM powers the Priv. The BlackBerry handset has 32 GB of internal storage and customers have the option to expand the memory to up to 2 TB with a microSD card.
The Priv is equipped with 18-megapixel rear-facing and 2-megapixel front-facing cameras. The BlackBerry device has a 3,410 mAh battery that can offer up to 23.9 hours of talk time and up to 17.6 days of standby time.
The Priv comes running on Android 5.1 Lollipop and customers are hoping to get Android 6.0 Marshmallow software update soon.
In the U.S., BestBuy is selling the unlocked version of the Priv for $699.99. Being a top-end phone, the BlackBerry Priv has a premium price and customers in India will have to wait until Jan. 28 to find the exact pricing in the country.
