BlackBerry Key2 weeks away from release

BlackBerry's headquarters in Waterloo, Ont. is shown on Wednesday June 22 , 2016. Blackberry Ltd. has added Snap Inc. to the list of companies it's taking to court in California for alleged patent infringement. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Eduardo Lima

A new, BlackBerry-branded smartphone could be hitting store shelves in less than two weeks.

A video released by the Waterloo-based company this week shows glimpses of the phone, which has been dubbed the Key2, and the date of June 7.

The phone will be made by Chinese firm TCL, which also manufactured the KeyOne device for BlackBerry last year.

BlackBerry itself is no longer in the manufacturing game, and BlackBerry-branded phones are only being produced via licensing deals.

The Key2 is being advertised with the slogan “an icon reborn.”

According to Digital Trends, the Key2 is expected to have a lot in common with the KeyOne, including a physical keyboard. New features appear to include a dual-camera setup, an extra button with an as-yet-unknown purpose, and the Android Oreo operating system by default.

A recent comScore report found that only three per cent of smartphones in use in Canada as of Dec. 31,  2017, carried the BlackBerry brand.