The Canadian tech company’s new smartphone bears resemblance to TCL’s Idol 4
BlackBerry CEO John S. Chen has revealed that most probably in next month, the next BlackBerry smartphone will be revealed. Mr. Chen has had previously disclosed that two cheap offerings –compared to the high end PRIV –should be expected in the current year. One of the such devices will be with a physical keyboard while the other wont.
Earlier, the company has hinted that it would opt for outsourcing the manufacturers for its mid-range smartphones. Now, the rumors have it that the expected all-touchscreen model which will be unveiled in July is the creation of Chinese company TCL. The latter is famously known for manufacturing alcatel-branded phones and it might be the one collaborating with the Canadian firm to produce the mid-range devices.
But the manufacturer is only identified on the basis of speculations and rumors. No concrete evidence has been found to base the speculations on. However there have been few incidents which might give breath to all the rumors going around. Currently, a TCL device having product name DTEK 50 has procured a certificate from Wi-Fi Alliance. This has raised some questions as the privacy suite which is in charge of shipping BlackBerry PRIV is also dubbed as DTEK. In addition to it, the model number of such device is listed as STH100-2 –following the same pattern which the Waterloo based firm uses for its product (company has listed PRIV as STV100-1).
This is going in line with all the older speculations which regarded that TCL and BlackBerry had signed some kind of cooperation agreement some time back. The rumors went on to predict that the very first result of the latest partnership will be a smartphone which –thanks to frequent leaks –is famous around the circle as BlackBerry Hamburg. The new handset is more likely to be based on alcatel Idol 4.
Based on the revelation by a benchmark run, it is expected that the Hamburg will have a 5.2-inch 1080p touchscreen and the Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 chipset. With the exception of chipset of Snapdragon 617, TCL’s Idol 4 has the exact same screen size and resolution. Also, Hamburg’s entire specs –leaked intervally –had acute resemblance with Idol 4.
It can be, therefore, said that the latest smartphone of BlackBerry is no more than a rebranded alcatel Idol 4 with a different SoC. Or, on the other hand, the smartphone might look different but have the basis of same innards as the Idol 4. Or, there’s a likelihood that the phone would be completely different with the specs being same just being a coincidence. In the next month, the rumors and speculations will be waived off by the truth itself.
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