Rumor: BlackBerry wants to release Android smartphone with physical keyboard

BlackBerry is considering releasing an Android smartphone with a physical keyboard this fall. Sources within the company report this to the generally considered reliable news agency Reuters. It would be the first time that BlackBerry switches to Android.

With the release of an Android device, BlackBerry wants to demonstrate that its BES12 service for companies is able to protect devices with a competitor’s operating system, Reuters writes. It would be a device with a large touchscreen and a sliding physical keyboard, with which the description resembles a phone that BlackBerry already showed a few months ago, but about which it gave no further details.

Reuters is citing multiple sources within the company, but BlackBerry does not confirm the move and instead says it is still committed to its own BlackBerry 10 operating system, which appeared on BlackBerry devices as of 2013.

If BlackBerry releases an Android smartphone, it will presumably come with Amazon’s App Store. BlackBerry already supplies it on devices with its own operating system, which is also compatible with Android apps. Whether the Canadian manufacturer will continue to release devices with BlackBerry 10 after the release of the Android device is unknown. It would be the first time in years that a well-known manufacturer releases a high-end Android smartphone with a physical keyboard.