BlackBerry will launch two new smartphones, Classic and Passport, later this year, CEO John Chen announced during the company's quarterly earnings report.
BlackBerry, is making efforts to turn things around in its favor with two new entries. The company's CEO John Chen revealed two new smartphones, Classic and Passport that will make their debut later this year. The announcement was made during the company's quarterly earnings report Thursday, according to Mobile Syrup.
The new BlackBerry Classic smartphone carry the traditional design with a center trackpad and a physical keyboard, which Chen had talked about during an interview with Bloomberg at the CES in January. The BlackBerry Passport, however, carries a completely new avatar compared to its previous models.
The Passport, which is smaller than Playbook, fits in the phablet category. The big-screen smartphones are getting a favorable response in the market. The popularity of the big screens has also resulted in Apple coming out of its comfort zone to build its next iPhone model with a 5.5-inch screen so it can compete with its chief rival, Samsung.
BlackBerry adopting the change can be a step in the right direction as it targets new users on its platform. According to the report, the BlackBerry Passport, formerly codenamed as 'Windermere,' sports a 4.5-inch square display with a screen resolution of 1440 x 1440 pixels. A QWERTY hardware keyboard is fitted underneath the huge display, which according to TechCrunch, is touch-sensitive for gesture interaction.
The BlackBerry Classic is bound to attract the fans of old Blackberry style phones, like the Bold series. Powered by the latest BlackBerry 10 OS, the Classic features a 3.5-inch touch-screen display, physical keyboard and a track-pad button between the call and end buttons.
BlackBerry is expected to launch the Passport at an event in London in September, while the Classic model is scheduled for a launch in November.
