BlackBerry is preparing to officially unveil its next-generation flagship smartphone, the BlackBerry "Mercury." A teaser from the company shows the QWERTY-equipped handset will launch on Feb. 25 in Barcelona at Mobile World Congress 2017.
BlackBerry Gets Back In The Smartphone Game
While BlackBerry is no longer one of the top smartphone makers in the game, the company has loyal fans and new ones who want their smartphone to rock an old school physical QWERTY keyboard below the display. The company's first Android smartphone, the BlackBerry Priv has made a name for itself ever since its release in 2015, thanks to the iconic BlackBerry physical QWERTY keyboard coupled with top of the line specs (at the time).
BlackBerry fans looking to get a new smartphone that closely resembles previous BlackBerry handsets will be delighted with the upcoming BlackBerry Mercury. The device isn't expected to officially be named BlackBerry Mercury, as Mercury is an internal codename given to the device.
BlackBerry Mercury Brings Back Classic BlackBerry Design
What is supposedly a teaser of the smartphone's new design and launch details has been leaked by BlackBerry and published online, and as you can see in the image above, there's some important information. As you can see, BlackBerry is planning to announce its latest BlackBerry smartphone (notice Mercury is not mentioned) on Feb. 25 in Barcelona, in advance of MWC 2017.
The new BlackBerry smartphone will feature a metal build and what appears to be a carbon fiber back panel. The physical QWERTY keyboard graces the front and above that is a 4.5-inch Quad HD display, which also appears to confirm the handset will ship with Android 7.0 Nougat out of the box. The smartphone is expected to be powered by an octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 processor, Adreno 506 GPU and 3 GB of RAM.
BlackBerry Mercury To Use Google Pixel's Camera Sensors
The BlackBerry "Mercury" will reportedly feature an 18-megapixel rear camera and 8-megapixel front-facing camera, supposedly using the same high-end and award-winning sensors used in Google's Pixel smartphones. The handset will likely include 32 GB or 64 GB of internal storage, in addition to a microSD expansion slot. The smartphone's fingerprint scanner has been embedded into the space key of the keyboard, and it's believed the device will pack in a large 3,400 mAh non-removable battery and use a USB Type-C port for charging and data transfer.
The BlackBerry Mercury is expected to be offered by all major U.S. carriers and a source recently suggested the smartphone would be making its way to Verizon initially, possibly giving the carrier exclusive rights.
We'll know more once BlackBerry announces its latest QWERTY smartphone on Feb. 25 and we'll bring you all the latest news. Are you planning on purchasing a BlackBerry Mercury? Please let us and our readers know in the comments below.
