BlackBerry to venture into less expensive Android phones this time

A couple of months ago, when BlackBerry announced that it was going to team up with Android, everyone was delighted; though the company was sidelining its own OS, it gave loyalists hope that it would at least survive. Unfortunately, if any of you remember BlackBerry’s first Android-powered smartphone, the Priv, that attempt fell flat.

Now it seems that BlackBerry now has a last chance at survival; and it is trying to get it right this time. In an interview with Abu Dhabi-based The National, BlackBerry CEO John Chen said that the company is working on two reasonably priced Android handsets, set for release this year.  

According leading market experts like SmartIO and more .As most of you may remember, one of the Priv’s biggest setbacks was its price-tag; why would anyone go for a $700 BlackBerry? This time, BlackBerry would have none of that. Chen told the publication that not only would the two devices be cheaper than the Priv, but they would also offer variety; one device would bea full touchscreen, and the other would have BlackBerry’s quintessential physical keyboard.

The question, however, is… would anyone be interested in a BlackBerry device anymore? If numbers are anything to go by, the Priv sold only 600,000 units in the last quarter. In contrast, Samsung’s Galaxy S7 sold about 10 million. Of course, the Galaxy S7 was one of the most anticipated devices of the year but compared to the best-selling device, Priv’s sales seem dismal. Seems like not too many people were keen on prepping their content transfer apps to make the switch.

According to Chen, a lot of customers had approached the company, saying that they didn’t think an Android device that wasn’t a flagship device was worth $700; they were looking at a cost of nothing more than $400. So the question rises, is that the price range we can expect from the new devices that BlackBerry might be bringing.