BlackBerry is preparing to launch a new flagship Android smartphone in the near future. Press images of the device, the BlackBerry DTEK60, have been published online ahead of its official launch.

There was a time when BlackBerry ruled the smartphone world with its QWERTY equipped handsets powered by its in-house BlackBerry OS. Soon after Apple and Google joined the party, BlackBerry realized in order to compete with iOS and Android, it needed to build a more advanced and touch-friendly operating system that would allow it to offer the same kind of features found on iPhones and Android devices.

BlackBerry went to work on its next generation BB10 OS and in 2013 released two new smartphones with BB10, the BlackBerry Z10, which featured an all-touch design, and the Q10, which included a touchscreen and the company's signature QWERTY physical keyboard situated below. Developers never flocked to BB10 to create applications being offered on iOS and Android and sales of the Z10 and Q10 were extremely poor. A few months after the release of the BlackBerry Z10 and Q10, the company announced it was replacing then CEO Thorsten Heins with current CEO, John Chen, who upon arrival, released an open message, stating, "We are committed to reclaiming our success."

While BlackBerry hasn't come close to reclaiming its top spot, the company has found a place in the Android smartphone world after abandoning its own mobile OS for Google's. The BlackBerry Priv, which was released in 2015, was well received and performed well as the company's flagship smartphone.

BlackBerry is about to launch a new flagship smartphone and unlike the Priv and its slide out QWERTY keyboard, the DTEK60 is an all-touch device with a spacious 5.5-inch Quad HD display. Several press images of the BlackBerry DTEK60 have just been published online, giving the world its first peek at BlackBerry's next top of the line smartphone.

As you can see in the image above, the BlackBerry DTEK60 features slightly curved edges on the front of the device, that makes its design look similar to that of the Samsung Galaxy S7 edge. BlackBerry has reportedly chosen to use the same specs found in most current Android flagship smartphones, including a 5.5-inch 2,560 x 1,440 Quad HD display, Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor and 4 GB of RAM.

The BlackBerry DTEK60 is expected to ship with 32 GB of internal storage, include a microSD expansion slot, 21-megapixel rear camera and 8-megapixel front-facing shooter. The handset will use a large 3,000 mAh battery and will become BlackBerry's first smartphone to include a fingerprint scanner for security purposes, which is located on the rear of the device.

BlackBerry is expected to launch the BlackBerry DTEK60 in the coming weeks. We'll keep you posted on any additional details as they become available.