BlackBerry Latest News, Rumors: CEO John Chen's Last "Keyboard Phone" Is Coming; BlackBerry Mercury To Follow Priv's Design?

There's no point in arguing that BlackBerry is one of the most beloved names in mobile communication. During their heyday, the former Research In Motion (RIM) transformed the industry by providing what was then state-of-the-art devices with physical keyboards. Since then, consumers got hooked by the way it looked, the precision when composing messages and of course, the rhythm and clicking sound that could sometimes be hypnotic.

However, BlackBerry's rise to prominence stopped when Smartphones with touchscreens slowly flooded the market. Although BlackBerry had a couple of touch and type hybrids, users demanded for a wider real estate and then some. The Canadian company had no other choice but to heed.

Fast forward to the new age, BlackBerry CEO John Chen took the bull by the horn and is now resurrecting the iconic QWERTY layout. Back in August, BlackBerry unveiled the DTEK50 and two months after, the DTEK60. But Chen said that BlackBerry still has "one keyboard phone" that he promised, and "it's coming."

Blackberry CEO John Chen says he's making one last phone, talks about what Trump means for tech & China https://t.co/9yP5Dy72hV

— Emily Chang (@emilychangtv) November 10, 2016

Tech Times reported that the "last" keyboard phone Chen was talking about might be the BlackBerry Mercury. The same website posted the Mercury's GeekBench rating that ranged from 903 to 915 in single-core and a maximum score of 5072 in multi-core. They also added that the device will be the successor of the BlackBerry Priv and should carry a Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 SoC, 3GB RAM, 4.7inch display screen and Android 7.0 Nougat off the box.

The question on every BlackBerry lover's mind is can the Mercury compete with next-gen Smartphones? Devices like the Xiaomi Mi Mix and Samsung's Galaxy Edge series are, bar none, game changers. Where will the BlackBerry Mercury insert itself? Some say that it will carry the Priv's Edge-esque design. It may, or it may be an entirely new concept, BlackBerry and Chen is still keeping a tight lid on the Mercury.