The BlackBerry Z10 is reportedly approaching its end of life (EOL) after just one and a half years on the market, according to a new report.
Once at the top of the food chain, BlackBerry saw itself overwhelmed by an increasingly-competitive smartphone market and was dethroned by rivals. The company has been struggling for quite some time to keep its head above the water and re-establish its relevance, but so far without much success.
The BlackBerry Z10 launched as the first smartphone to run the company's BB10 operating system, as well as the first one to ditch BlackBerry's iconic QWERTY keyboard in favor of an all-touch design.
After 1.5 years on the market, during which it failed to see the success BlackBerry likely hoped for, the BlackBerry Z10 is reportedly ready to reach its end of life.
According to a new report from HWZBB, a BlackBerry community site in Singapore, the BlackBerry Z10 will hit EOL as soon as next month, on July 10, when the company will cease production of the device.
As a reminder, the BlackBerry Z10 sports a 4.2-inch WXGA display, a dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon processor clocked at 1.5GHz, 2GB of RAM, 16GB of internal storage capacity, a micro SD card slot for additional memory of up to 64GB, an 8-megapixel rear camera, a 2-megapixel front shooter, and a 1,800 mAh battery.
Despite the production deadline, however, the device will reportedly continue to be available for purchase as long as supplies last. Those who have recently purchased a BlackBerry Z10 likely have no reason to worry, as the two-year warranty should be applicable regardless of the EOL. When it comes to future updates, BlackBerry is expected to continue supporting the device even if it ceases production.
While BlackBerry was already struggling even before introducing its BlackBerry Z10, the company's downfall is widely attributed to this smartphone. Those accustomed to BlackBerry's iconic QWERTY handsets did not recognize the company's style in the Z10, while those who favored all-touch devices mainly preferred to purchase one running on Android, iOS, or Windows Phone. Nevertheless, BlackBerry continues its all-touch push with new devices, none of which seem to be a stellar success so far.
