BlackBerry CEO Thorsten Heins says the embattled mobile phone company plans to release three to four new smartphones running its BlackBerry 10 operating system this year.
That would be in addition to the BlackBerry Z10, which debuted in the United States today, and the BlackBerry Q10, a QWERTY keyboard-enabled model due out in the next few months.
Another flagship phone, besides the Z10, could hit during the holiday season.
"There's one new product I'm really excited about, but I can't really share it," Heins told CNET.
"Heins confirmed that the company would have a midtier device later this year, and another 'exciting' device for the holidays, although he wasn't 100 percent sure it would hit by year's end. He said there would be three to four BlackBerry 10 devices this fiscal year."
That's exciting news for BlackBerry fans, too. Since its January unveiling, the Z10 has been touted as BlackBerry's flagship phone, so it seems likely whatever is due for the holidays will be even flashier and more impressive. By all accounts, the Z10 is a quality phone, though perhaps not as robust and full-featured as current high-end competitors like the Samsung Galaxy S4, the HTC One or the Sony Xperia Z.
Apple's next iteration of the iPhone is due out later this year, but that leaves late 2013 wide open for BlackBerry to produce something to top the other manufacturers, if it can manage that admittedly daunting task.
Of course, if there's a "midtier" device scheduled for later this year, where does the Z10 fit in the hierarchy? It's hard to tell, as the device due out in the interim sounds like it might be a budget model.
BlackBerry says it's planning three tiers, each with their own all-touch and QWERTY devices, meaning six to eight BB10 phones on the market simultaneously. That sounds a little oversaturated, but it's a gamble BlackBerry seems excited to take.
The BlackBerry Z10 features a 1.5 GHz dual-core Snapdragon S4 plus processor, 2 GB of RAM, a 4.2-inch 1280x768 display, an 8 megapixel camera with 1080p HD video, 16 GB of internal storage, an SD card slot and runs the newly revamped BlackBerry 10 operating system.
The BlackBerry Q10 features a 1.5 GHz dual-core Snapdragon S4 plus processor, 2 GB of RAM, a 3.1-inch 720x720 touchscreen display, an 8 megapixel camera with 1080p HD video, 16 GB of internal storage, an SD card slot for up to another 64 GB of storage, a full physical QWERTY keyboard and runs the newly revamped BlackBerry 10 operating system.
Check back for the latest information on BlackBerry 10 phones as it becomes available.
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