A BlackBerry device bearing the model number BBF100-1 that was previously identified as a direct follow-up to the BlackBerry KEYone appeared in the database of Android benchmark Geekbench earlier today, having been spotted with a number of specs that place it in the upper mid-range segment of the smartphone market. The listing that can be seen below reveals that the unannounced BlackBerry handset is equipped with 6GB of RAM and features the Snapdragon 660, the most powerful and energy-efficient mid-range SoC ever produced by Qualcomm. The octa-core chip found inside the BlackBerry BBF100-1 has a maximum operating frequency of 1.84GHz, according to the benchmark, with this particular silicon model also being equipped with the Adreno 512 GPU.
The handset whose previously discovered User Agent Profile confirmed the existence of a physical keyboard will also run Android 8.0 Oreo out of the box, as suggested by its listing. No other hardware or software details about the device have been uncovered as part of its latest sighting, with its single-core and multi-core scores being in line with previous results from Snapdragon 660-enabled Android phones, indicating that the upcoming BlackBerry BBF100-1 will pack a lot of raw computing power, especially in the context of the mid-range product category that it apparently belongs to. Compared to the regular variant of the BlackBerry KEYone, the upcoming handset sports twice as much RAM and a better SoC, thus being positioned as a clear upgrade over what’s presumed to be its direct predecessor.
Whether the BBF100-1 ends up being marketed as the BlackBerry KEYtwo or takes an entirely different name remains to be seen, with the handset itself being likely to debut at the latest iteration of Consumer Electronics Show taking place in mid-January. The 2017 edition of the event saw the unofficial unveiling of the original KEYone, though that particular device wasn’t announced until MWC 2017 in late February when the Canadian company and TCL finally revealed its actual name. The successor to the keyboard-equipped Android smartphone is likely to follow a similar release schedule and start hitting some markets by early spring. The BlackBerry KEYone was sold in variants featuring both 3GB and 4GB of RAM but if its follow-up is also to debut in two versions, it’s unclear whether the newly unveiled one is the base model or a more capable version of the upcoming handset.