BlackBerry plans to cut production of high-end smartphones and target the mid-range market to boost sales smartphone.
John Chen, CEO of BlackBerry, told The National that the company will “launch two mid-range Android devices this year. One with a physical keyboard and the other with a full touch screen. ”
Chen didn't say anything about when we can expect to see the new smartphones on the market, but he did highlight BlackBerry's move to become an Android OEM, developing its own Android software that made BlackBerry OS famous.
BlackBerry released a high-end device at the end of 2015, which costs $700. It is the first BlackBerry device to run on Android.
But the company's sales were not the best. So after a disappointing earnings report in early April, the company decided to develop cheaper devices for the developing world markets and not only.
Focus on mid-range devices was not only done by BlackBerry. We have recently seen Apple target the cheapest market with the launch of the iPhone SE.