The BlackBerry Key2 is officially arriving on June 7

We've heard rumors and speculation about a new BlackBerry phone called the Key2 and now it's (just about) official – BlackBerry has sent out invitations to a special launch event in New York on June 7, and mentions the Key2 by name.

The phone will be the follow-up to last year's BlackBerry KeyOne, which impressed us with its keyboard-led design and software security but which was something of a letdown in terms of the performance under the hood and all the other stuff a modern phone is supposed to handle these days – like music and movies.

If you've got a hankering for BlackBerry phones of yesteryear though, the Key2 launch should definitely be worth looking out for. The tagline on the invitation is "an icon reborn", so that sure sounds like BlackBerry's classic approach updated for the world in 2018.

Classic BlackBerry

In truth BlackBerry has been attempting to revive its traditional-looking, physical keyboard phones to compete with Samsung, Apple, Google and the rest for years now – remember the 2014 BlackBerry Classic? let's hope they can get it just a little bit more right this time around.

Based on what we've heard so far, we're expecting a dual-lens camera on the back of the device, and of course a proper keyboard that you can mash your digits into. We're hoping that there's enough oomph under the hood too, so it can keep up with demanding tasks.

We're now less than a month away from that launch date, so we should start to hear more rumors and leaks drip through in the days ahead, but we'll also bring you all the official news as it's announced from New York. In a year that's been dominated by top-quality phones, BlackBerry has its work cut out to keep up.