For the first time in years, Canadian phone maker BlackBerry has gotten back into the smartphone race as their product, the BlackBerry Passport, which has just been recently launched, is said to be gaining more and more popularity among smartphone users. As a matter of fact, reports said there have been shortage in the supply of this "business-centric" device of BlackBerry.
"I'm glad to have inventory issues. It shows that people want the phone. We took a very conservative approach and didn't order too many," said John Chen, BlackBerry's CEO, when asked about the growing demands of the said product.
The company announced that there were a total of 200,000 units of BlackBerry Passport sold during its 2-day opening sale alone. As the brand has always positioned itself to be the businessman's phone, CEO Chen mentioned that they are targeting 30% of the smartphone market who use their phones as a business tool, not an "entertainment portal."
The BlackBerry Passport has an unusual design as it is undeniably square at 5.03 inches tall, 3.55 inches wide, and 0.37 inches thick. Which means it is heavier than most smartphones at 194 grams. The company must have designed it that way for a high-end kind of feel when the device is held. It also has a 4.5 inches IPS LCD display with 1440x1440 pixels resolution, having a pixel density of 453 ppi. It is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 SoC, with a Quad-core 2.26 GHz Krait 400 CPU, along with Adreno 330 GPU, on a 3GB RAM. It has a 32GB memory wchich can be expanded up to 64GB VIA microSD. In addition, it has a 13 megapixel camera in the rear, and 2 megapixel camera in the front should the owner use it for selfies and/ or video chats. Moreover, the brand is keeping its trademark of having large batteries at 3450 mAh. This means it can operate for a day and a half under normal usage conditions.
The ongoing demand for the device is a clear indication that BlackBerry could be on the right track despite the tough competition and emerging smartphone companies which desire to have a piece of the pie. Let's see how the demand for BlackBerry Passport will continue to fare once the BlackBerry Q20, also known as the BlackBerry Classic, is finally released.
