BlackBerry has unveiled its latest luxury smartphone, due to be released in SA within the coming months, in partnership with Porsche Design.
The BlackBerry Porsche Design P'9983 Graphite smartphone features graphite-metallic coloured elements, with hand-wrapped leather on the back door cover.
Designed around BlackBerry 10 technology, the new high-end smartphone features a 3.1-inch Super AMOLED display, Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor with 2GB of RAM, and 64GB of on-board storage space. The handset features an 8MP back camera and a 2MP front-facing camera.
BlackBerry says it has collaborated with Porsche Design to create an "exclusive keypad with specially crafted glass-like keys with the durability of rigid synthetic material, plus blackened glass and a graphite stainless steel colour frame".
An exclusive Porsche Design PIN ID group means BlackBerry Porsche Design users are instantly recognised as owners of the luxury handset.
While pricing has not yet been released, the latest luxury phone's predecessor - available in SA through Porsche Design stores - has a price tag of about R24 000.
The Porsche Design P'9983 Graphite smartphone from BlackBerry will be available from Porsche Design stores, select carriers and retailers around the world in the coming weeks, says BlackBerry. SA should get the phone "in coming months".
BlackBerry appeal
BlackBerry CEO John Chen has indicated the latest Porsche Design phone is targeted at the luxury market.
In SA, the smartphone maker - which has seen its market share eroded in recent years - is fast falling out of favour with consumers. The brand was, in the past, a favourite among locals.
The company has started collaborating with other handset makers such as Samsung, and making its software available to them, prompting analysts to suggest it will eventually cease being a mass market device maker.
BlackBerry has been losing buyer share recently and had 0.4% of the market at the end of 2014, behind Windows Phone, according to the IDC. The research house notes the Toronto-based company posted the only year-over-year decline among the leading operating systems, which includes Android, iOS and Windows.
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