BlackBerry Expected to Unveil Lower-End KEY2 LE at IFA 2018

BlackBerryKEY2, despite the iconic touch-and-type design which has become synonymous with the company’s persona, failed to impress a lot of users because of the mid-range specs at the price of a flagship. To remedy this, the company has long been expected to launch a cheaper variant of the KEY2 and it appears that we’ll be able to see the day soon.

TCL, which currently owns the BlackBerry brand name globally, has sent out press invites foran event that will be held in Berlin at IFA 2018conference. While there is no confirmation about the device which will be unveiled at the event, thedevice expected is a ‘lite’ version of the BlackBerry KEY2– likely to be christened KEY2 LE.

Based on the information which is currently available, the KEY2 LE is likely to houserelatively lighter specifications inside the same chassis. So, this is unlikely to be a simple resizing of theKEY2, as is the general trend when it comes to budget versions of flagship smartphones.

Additionally, theBlackBerry KEY2 LE will have a modified keyboardand while the basic structure and functionalities like fingerprint reader in the spacebar should remain the same, itwon’t support the trackpadfeature of the KEY2. Moreover, based on theGeekbench scoreswhich were leaked last month, the model islikely to have a smaller 4GB RAMcompared to the 6GB on original KEY2. The processor, however, is expected to remain the same but it wouldn’t be very surprising if BlackBerry swaps it with aSnapdragon 636.

Other changes include the 12MP+12MPdual cameras being replaced by a 12MP+5MP setupand a likelydecrease of 500mAhin the battery capacity. So, the phone is expected to retain critical features which security-conscious or enterprise users prize.

While there’s just over two weeks left before IFA 2018 kicks off, there’s no confirmation about the phone that’s going to be unveiled. In India, BlackBerry recently unveiled theEvolve and Evolve Xwhich are sold by Optiemus Infracom. Both phonesalso have mid-range specs, but they were only announced for India. The IFA 2018 event could also see these Evolve smartphones being unveiled for the global market.

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