BlackBerry's much leaked new flagship, the BlackBerry Z30, is set to be unveiled at an event in Malaysia on the September 18.
According to a source speaking to Pocket Lint, the new flagship handset will go on sale in Asian stores soon after.
Simultaneous events are being held in France and India, so it's likely that the BlackBerry Z30 will make an appearance at those too, but it's the Malaysian event and an Asian launch which have specifically been mentioned.
Following its launch in Asia, the BlackBerry Z30 is supposedly going to launch in the U.S. two to three weeks later, though as yet BlackBerry hasn't confirmed any of this and so far there's no word on exactly when it will hit the UK.
All change for the Z
The BlackBerry Z30 (previously known as the A10) aims to replace the BlackBerry Z10 as BlackBerry's premier non-QWERTY smartphone. Numerous leaks have sprung up, suggesting that the handset will be substantially larger than its predecessor, with a 5 inch 1280 x 768 Super AMOLED display.
That extra size supposedly allows it to have an extra row of icons on the homescreen, giving it five rows rather than four.
Previous leaks suggest that the BlackBerry Z30 will have a 1.7 GHz dual-core processor, 2GB of RAM and a 2,880 mAh battery. It's also said to have 16GB of built in storage along with a micro SD card slot, while an 8MP camera looks likely, backed up by a 2MP front-facing one.
The BlackBerry Z30 will ship with BlackBerry 10.2, a brand new build of BlackBerry 10, while it's also rumoured that it will support Qi wireless charging and NFC.
The new handset is likely to push the BlackBerry Z10 and the BlackBerry Q10 down to mid range positions and leave the BlackBerry Q5 as an entry level handset, giving consumers access to BlackBerry 10 at more price points.
The BlackBerry Z30 is arriving at a dire time for BlackBerry, as the company is actively looking to sell itself, having failed to generate much consumer interest in its latest range of smartphones.
It might be optimistic to think that the BlackBerry Z30 will turn things around for the struggling company, but it certainly looks like a decent successor to the Z10.
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