BlackBerry 'Luna,' 'Athena,' and 'Uni' tipped for a 2018 launch

BlackBerry has three new smartphones lined up for 2018.

| Published: Monday, February 19, 2018, 11:16 [IST]

BlackBerry's unannounced smartphones have been doing rounds in the rumor mill for quite some time now. The devices have already made several appearances including Geekbench, configuration files, and even in European device registration database.

BlackBerry 'Luna,' 'Athena,' and 'Uni' tipped for a 2018 launch

The company has already confirmed that two new keyboard smartphones will see the light of day in 2018. But, if the new reports are to be believed, there might be a third smartphone in works. New information points towards three new codenames - Athena, Luna, and Uni.

Athena

Athena is one of the recent names that has come up in CrackBerry Forums, and the information about the devices seems to fall in line with the previously leaked information regarding the BBE100-1 and BBF100-1 model numbers.

As per the information, the device will have a keyboard-based design and will be backed by 6GB / 8GB of RAM alongside 64GB of internal storage. The device is said to have bigger keys compared to BlackBerry KEYone.

Other highlights include a dual camera setup that will be able to create a bokeh effect for pictures. It is also said to boast Snapdragon 660 processor.

Uni

The recently leaked patents show a device identical to the BlackBerry Priv. Although the patent is more about the camera then the device, it sure does give us a glimpse of what to expect.

The patent comes with a moniker 'Electronic device and method of controlling same for capturing digital images,' that suggests a camera system that would work on a smartphone with a slide-out QWERTY, just like the BlackBerry Priv.

The camera will be housed on the rear panel of the smartphone, with one lens placed on the sliding QWERTY in conjunction with the primary camera. It will be called the conversion lens. When the QWERTY is closed, the regular camera will be available for shooting. With the QWERTY open, the camera and the conversion lens come together to offer extra functionality for the rear camera.

Luna

As the information suggests, this will be a mid-range device and will feature the keyboard-based design. It's hard to determine when these devices will be launched, but the original poster of the information suggests it will be released in August.

With the MWC 2018 just around the corner, the sudden increase in the number of rumors is expected, but we will have to wait and see what BlackBerry has in the store.