We’ve been saying that BlackBerry is releasing two mid-range phones soon. One of which might be launched this July as hinted by CEO John Chen last month. Nothing is certain yet but the smartphone pioneer will be having a live online event this July 26. It’s not clear if the first mid-range will already be introduced then but there is a possibility. We don’t even know the agenda but we have a strong feeling Chen and his crew will share the direction of BlackBerry and probably tease an upcoming device if it won’t launch one yet.

BlackBerry isn’t giving up on mobile phones. The BlackBerry Hamburg and Rome have been speculated to be called the Neon and Mercury as more images were leaked. The Hamburg is presently believed to be manufactured by TCL. We’re excited to know if this mid-range phone will be $270(USD/$350 (CAD) or maybe even more affordable than that.

We all had high hopes for the first ever Android-powered BlackBerry PRIV but unfortunately, sales aren’t doing well according to AT&T. Even if the phone is well-built and delivers its promises of security and high performance, the mobile consumers didn’t jump into the bandwagon. The company was expecting to sell 850,000 units but only 600K were sold during fiscal Q4.

As with the PRIV, we’re hopeful that this mid-range phone will finally sell and bring BlackBerry’s numbers up. If the PRIV which is a high-end and expensive didn’t make it to the top-selling list, then maybe the next BlackBerry Android smartphone will.

We’re expecting for the BlackBerry Hamburg but it could also be the BlackBerry Rome according to a recent Geekbench listing. A BlackBerry phone (model STV100-3) is said to come with a physical QWERTY keyboard and will be powered by a hexa-core processor and some 3GB RAM. There’s Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow on the list of specs so we know this one will definitely be up-to-date.

This is only a Geekbench document. The Hamburg (model STH100-2) was sighted and certified on FCC so it should come first. Let’s just wait and see.

VIA: THE GLOBE AND MAIL, PhoneArena