April 26, 2024

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[THE INVESTOR] BlackBerry Mobile launched the KEY2 smartphone in Korea on July 27, with an emphasis on its popular physical QWERTY keyboard, amid a market dominated by Samsung Electronics and Apple.

It marks the second BlackBerry smartphone released in South Korea after the brand was purchased by China-based TCL Communication Technology in 2016. The company released the BlackBerry KEYOne Black Edition here last year.

The BlackBerry KEY2 comes with a 4.5-inch bezel-less display with a physical QWERTY keyboard, which is the key feature of the company’s smartphones. Printed with the Korean alphabet, the size of the keyboard is roughly 20 percent larger than its predecessor.

Other major features include a 12-megapixel dual-lens main camera and a 3,500 mAh battery, which BlackBerry claims to last for around two days. The front camera comes with an 8-megapixel image sensor.

The new smartphone is also capable of holding two SIM cards, allowing customers to use two different numbers at the same time.

By Song Seung-hyun and newswires (ssh@heraldcorp.com)