BlackBerry licensee to launch two smartphones with crypto wallet

If the rumors are to be believed, BlackBerry licensee is working on two BlackBerry-branded smartphones that will have secure crypto wallets. These devices will likely be called the BlackBerry Evolve and the BlackBerry Evolve X, and Optiemus, a BlackBerry licensee based in India, will handle the manufacturing process.

Known tipster Evan Blass mentioned that these smartphones will launch as the limited edition of the handsets. However, apart from the name of the devices, Blass did not share any information about the specifications or the design of the phones.

Coming soon from BlackBerry licensee Optiemus: limited edition Evolve and Evolve X models with secure crypto wallets included.

— Evan Blass (@evleaks) October 5, 2018

This isn't the first time a crypto wallet will be incorporated into a smartphone. Sirin Finney Blockchain smartphone comes with the crypto wallet. It comes with a cold storage crypto wallet which can securely store BitCoin, Dogecoin, and other popular cryptocurrencies by keeping a reserve of these cryptocurrencies offline in the phone.

HTC is also said to be working on a blockchain smartphone known as HTC Exodus. The company will also take advantage of the TrustZone technology form the British chip designer ARM. The new tech prevents individuals from accessing the digital wallet unless the use of the API is developed by the company itself.

Besides the crypto wallets, both smartphones also come with support for payment protocols and a secure storage for personal information, although it isn't clear if the Evolve and Evolve X will have these features.

BlackBerry has always been known for developing security software for a wide variety of devices that includes Android devices, wearables, medical devices, point-of-sale terminals, and appliances.

In August, TCL Communication unveiled the BlackBerry KEY2 LE at the IFA 2018 in Berlin. It is an affordable version of the KEY2 launched earlier this year and comes with a similar design. Apart from the design, the KEY2 LE also borrows some specifications such as the 4.5-inch display, keyboard layout and Speed Key functionality from the KEY2.

The smartphone is fitted with a 4.5-inch FHD+ display with a resolution of 1620 x 1080 pixels and an aspect ratio of 3:2. The screen features a Gorilla Glass 3 protection on top. Under its hood, the device makes use of a 1.8GHz octa-core Snapdragon 636 SoC based on the 14nm process paired with Adreno 509 GPU, 4GB RAM, and 32GB/64GB storage space. There is a hybrid dual SIM slot supporting up to 256GB of additional storage.