BlackBerry's Mid-Range Smartphones to Be Detailed in July: CEO

BlackBerry CEO John Chen revealed earlier this year the Canadian smartphone and services company will unveil two mid-range Android smartphones in 2016, but now, it looks like we have a more definitive time frame. Chen in an interview has now revealed that more details about the two smartphones will be unveiled as soon as next month.

Chen said he would reveal more details about the smartphones in July, without divulging any further details. Information surrounding both the smartphones is scarce at the moment, beyond a few image leaks of two smartphones said to be codenamed Hamburg and Rome.

He re-iterated that both the smartphones will be in the mid-range segment, or the mid to high segment. However, there will be no smartphones positioned for the high-end market this year.

Speaking to Mobile Syrup, Chen said, "I'm not really prepared to unveil that. I guess, I was thinking about doing that more in July time frame. I have spoken about having two of them in between now and the end of this fiscal year, and they usually they both of them more in the mid-range and mid to high, not going to be a high end phone."

Earlier, BlackBerry announced its Q1 2017 results, and the numbers don't paint a pretty picture. The Canadian mobile company sold just 500,000 phones globally in the first fiscal quarter - down from 600,000 in the previous quarter. It represents a year-on-year decline of about 54 percent, and the company reported a net loss of $670 million, which is its biggest loss in over two years.Sales also fell to $400 million, a 39 percent downfall from last year. Chen blames these numbers to the strategic restructuring costs in the company, and says that he still believes that BlackBerry can profit from its device business. Meanwhile, Facebook and WhatsApp have already announced that they are ending support for BlackBerry devices