Blackberry will stop making the “Classic: smartphone

BlackBerry says it will stop making its BlackBerry Classic smartphone, less than two years after launching it.

The BlackBerry Classic hit the market in December 2014, offering customers a 3.5-inch screen – 60 per cent larger than the previous BlackBerry Bold 9900 – longer battery life and a standard keyboard and touch screen.

In its most recent quarter of its 2017 financial year, the company sold roughly 500,000 smartphones, about 100,000 smartphones fewer than the previous quarter.

Ralph Pini, BlackBerry’s COO and General Manager said in a company blog, “The Classic has long surpassed the average lifespan for a smartphone in today’s market. We are ready for change so we can give our customers something better.”

The Waterloo based firm will now focus on updating its smartphone lineup and will continue to support its BlackBerry 10 operating system with software updates.

BlackBerry is expected to release two new mid-range, Android-powered smartphones before the end of February.