BlackBerry made its Android debut back in 2015 with BlackBerry Priv. Following which, there were rumors circulating about another Android-powered smartphone almost immediately. In all likeliness, the upcoming smartphone code-named Mercury is set to arrive some time in 2017.
The news was instantly confirmed when TCL released an early preview at CES. While no additional details regarding the Mercury/DTEK70 has been shared yet, BlackBerry CEO John Chen recently confirmed that this smartphone will be the last device designed by the company.
During a press event at CES, Chen reiterated that the Mercury will be the last smartphone that will be completely designed by BlackBerry’s engineers, according a report by Mashable. “The last model we engineered and designed ourself, yes that will be the last one,” said Chen.
Chen added that the company will now be focusing its resources on other endeavors and partners like TCL will build BlackBerry-branded smartphones.
“What you're going to see over time is more phones. There's going to be more BlackBerry phones out there because now I have multiple parties creating and distributing and I have local party to compete in the local space — countries which I normally can't compete with,” explained Chen.
