Earlier, BlackBerry underwent a global deal agreement with China's TCL Communication Technology Holding Ltd., as the Canadian manufacturing company halted its phone production in order to accelerate its services and software business. Now, TCL announced that it will unveil a new line of handsets at the upcoming Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2017 during January 5-8 at Las Vegas.

TCL, BlackBerry's new hardware partner, will reportedly "unveil an evolutionary" first in the mobile industry, after holding the official rights to build BlackBerry phones. TCL Communication commented that its CES 2017 presentation will include the addition of the new BlackBerry brand of smartphones.

President and General Manager for TCL Communication (TCT), North America Steve Cistulli, said that "We'll unveil more news at CES around our plans, showcasing the legacy of the BlackBerry smartphone brand, while also giving a glimpse into what new BlackBerry smartphones will offer as part of our bold new brand portfolio within TCT. These are just the building blocks of our new growth strategy, with additional announcements to come in 2017."

However, TCL has not spilled any information about the upcoming BlackBerry-branded handsets, though according to rumors, one of the phones will be called the DTEK70, which is similar to BlackBerry's last two phone series - DTEK50 and DTEK60.

Another leak on the upcoming TCL smartphone points to a handset with the codename 'Mercury.' Unlike the DTEK50 and DTEK60, the 'Mercury' phone will sport a built-in QWERTY keypad and a candybar design, Indian Express has learned.

It is said that the phone was the last mobile phone from BlackBerry itself before the company completely goes out of the hardware business.

According to Tech Firstpost, 'Mercury' will carry impressive specs such as a 4.5-inch display with a 3:2 ratio, a 2GHz Qualcomm processor, 3GB of RAM and 32GB of storage. As per its camera, it sports an 18-MP rear camera and an 18-MP front-snapper. It will also run the Android 7.0 Nougat out of the box.

As per the leaked image render, DTEK70 is expected to have a 4.5-inch curved screen, and a front camera on the top right corner, three-grille speakers in the centre and sensors to the left.

Before the upcoming CES 2017 event, more details about BlackBerry DTEK70 and the 'Mercury' device are going to be revealed online.

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Topics BlackBerry smartphone, Ces 2017, BlackBerry Mercury