BlackBerry promises to keep making smartphones with keyboards

Although BlackBerry has stopped making its Classic model, the manufacturer is not stopping making smartphones with physical keyboards. A CEO of the company emphasizes this after many media reported about the production stop of the ‘primal model’.

“BlackBerry users have nothing to fear, the keyboard remains”, say BlackBerry CEO Alex Thurber in a tweet. The head of the sales department posted the message in a response to media reports that appeared after the manufacturer announced Monday that production of the BlackBerry Classic will stop.

The Classic is not the last model with a keyboard in the BlackBerry range. The Priv with Android has a sliding keyboard, while the Passport with BlackBerry 10 has a fixed keyboard under the touchscreen. The Canadian smartphone maker has always said it will continue to make smartphones with keyboards.

According to VentureBeat, BlackBerry is working on three new smartphones, which will be introduced in the next three quarters. In all cases, these are Android smartphones and the third model, which is expected to be presented in the first quarter of next year, is rumored to have a physical keyboard. This device is known by the codename Mercury and will probably get a 4.5″ screen with 3:2 ratio, Snapdragon 625-soc, 3GB RAM and an aluminum housing.

Possible render of upcoming BlackBerry Mercury smartphone with keyboard