Will the BlackBerry Z10 cost Rs 45,000?

The Internet, not content with all the BlackBerry 10 leaks of late, has revealed one more piece of information that could make BB die-hards wince.

The latest nugget concerns pricing of the new BlackBerry flagship and was sent to Engadget by an anonymous tipster. According to a snapshot from Carphone Warehouse’s internal database, the SIM-free version of model number BLAZ10WHI will cost customers in UK a lofty £480 at the retail giant. In contrast, the comparable 16GB iPhone 5 currently is priced £30 more.

The leaked snapshot that shows the BlackBerry Z10's UK price. (Image credit: engadget.com)

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If RIM indeed decides to go with this as the final price for its new device, then it would place the Z10 in rarified air as far as its India price goes as £480 converts to approximately Rs 41,000. Add import duties and local levies to the equation and we are looking at a price close to Rs 45,000. For that much money, the Z10 has specs which are on par with handsets that are near the 30,000 mark. It boasts a 4.2-inch display with a resolution of 1280 x 768, 16GB storage with a microSD card slot and an 8MP camera on the back. It runs the gesture-based BlackBerry 10 OS.

At that price, we have only the iPhone 5 or the soon to be launched HTC Butterfly (rumoured to be priced about Rs 42-44,000). Another HTC handset, the One X+ also breaches the 40k mark at online retailers. But apart from these, there isn’t a phone that is as loftily-priced as the Z10 could be. Will you buy a BB10 handset that is priced over Rs 40,000?