BlackBerry reportedly working on three Android phones code named Neon, Argon and Mercury

BlackBerry is working hard to bounce back in the smartphone market. The company ditched its proprietary mobile operating system BlackBerry OS in favor of Android, and released the Priv. Even though the Priv received overwhelming response, the sales figure was not that great. One of the reason being the premium price tag. Learning from past mistakes, BlackBerry CEO John Chen said that the company is working on two mid-range Android smartphones (one full touch screen and the other with QWERTY keyboard) priced between $300 and $400, so it can compete in the low-end market.

Now, according to a report from VentureBeat BlackBerry is working on not two but three Android smartphones. The Canadian manufacturer plans to release one phone per quarter for the next three quarters and these are code named Neon, Argon and Mercury, and will range of form factors and price points

The first phone to release in the market will be Neon, a low-to mid range device with 5.2--inch full touchscreen (no physical keyboard) display with 1080p resolution. It will be powered by Snapdragon 617 processor and come with 3GB RAM, 16GB internal storage and 2160mAh battery with QuickCharge 2.0 support. For photography, there's 13MP rear camera and 8MP front camera. Neon will sport a aluminum frame with soft-coated plastic back, and will be aimed at both enterprise and consumer markets. It is expected to go on sale in July to August time frame.

It's worth noting that Neon will reportedly be manufactured by TCL, the company that owns Alcatel, and the phone will look similar to the Idol 4. The device also surfaced in leaked image recently and was previously code named Hamburg.

Argon will be the next in the line up and is expected to arrive sometime in October. It will be BlackBerry's flagship product and sports a 5.5-inch full touchscreen QHD display, same as Priv. It comes with Snapdragon 820 SoC, 4GB RAM , 32GB internal storage, 3000mAh battery (w/ QuickCharge 3.0), 21MP rear camera, 8MP front camera, fingerprint scanner and USB Type-C connector. It will be marketed to the enterprise and enthusiast customers.

The Mercury (previously called Rome) will be coming in Q1 2017, and is the only handset to sport BlackBerry's iconic physical QWERTY keyboard like Priv. But unlike Priv which is a vertical slider, Mercury will resemble BlackBerry Passport, which means the keyboard will be just below the screen instead of having to slide it out from under the screen. It comes with 4.5-inch 1080p display, Snapdragon 625 SoC, 3GB RAM, 32GB internal storage, 18MP rear camera, 8MP front camera  and 3400mAh battery.

Kaiser Bey

Kaiser is a tech enthusiast who likes to write, read and talk about tech. He dreams of going to Mars and never come back. We hope that you find his posts on AndroGuider helpful and informative