RIM: First BlackBerry 10 phones coming end of 2012

You’re going to have to wait almost a year to get your hands on a new BlackBerry 10 phone.

RIM co-CEO Mike Lazaridis announced today that, due to the delayed availability of the chipset chosen for BlackBerry 10 devices, its next-generation phones won’t appear until the end of 2012. He delivered the news during RIM’s Q3 earnings call.

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Previously, we expected RIM to deliver its BlackBerry 10 phones — formerly called BBX, and which are expected to be RIM’s answer to the iPhone and Android devices — in the middle of 2012. Lazaridis said that the chipset selected for the platform, which features a powerful and efficient dual-core processor and LTE 4G connectivity, won’t be available until the middle of 2012. That means it’ll take some additional time for the company to get the phones ready.

When pressed on the chipset delay, Lazaridis said that the company chose to use a highly integrated chipset “so we can have a much more aggressive industrial design in the product.” He added that the company is working on developer phones so they can start testing their apps.

Picture: A BlackBerry 10 prototype, via the Verge