BlackBerry executive says that physical keyboards are not going away

Just the other day, BlackBerry confirmed that it was no longer manufacturing the BlackBerry Classic. But those who are fans of the manufacturer's physical keyboards shouldn't worry. A tweet sent yesterday by Alex Thurber, BlackBerry's Senior Vice President for Global Device Sales, made it clear that the physical QWERTY is here to stay.

While the physical keyboard is not being phased out, BlackBerry purportedly has two new handsets coming this year and both will be touchscreen only models. Those are expected to be the BlackBerry Neon and BlackBerry Argon.

Based on a report from earlier this month, we won't see a new BlackBerry device sporting a physical QWERTY until next year when the BlackBerry Mercury is supposed to be unveiled. The Mercury is said to feature a 4.5-inch screen with a 3:2 aspect ratio. It will have an aluminum build and carry the Snapdragon 625 SoC inside. The camera combo from back to front should weigh in at 18MP/8MP, and a 3400mAh battery will keep the lights on.

The vertical sliding QWERTY keyboard on the Android-flavored BlackBerry Priv is far from being BlackBerry's best. Perhaps that honor belongs to the physical QWERTY with the fretted keys, found on the BlackBerry Bold 9000. 


source: @Alex_Thurber via MobileSyrup