In recent years, Apple's iOS and Google's Android operating systems have ruled smartphones. BlackBerry has its own operating system, but few use it these days. BlackBerry is set to release a phone that will instead use Android for its operating system, according to Tech Radar.

BlackBerry, according to new rumors, will be releasing a low-end smartphone based on 2014's budget BlackBerry Z3. The project is currently code-named BlackBerry Prague.

This would be the first BlackBerry device to be powered by Android, but it might not be the last. BlackBerry is also said to be preparing another handset, called the BlackBerry Venice that will have a 5.4-inch curved Quad-HD display and a six-core Snapdragon 808 processor. The BlackBerry Venice will also be powered by Android.

BGR reports that the BlackBerry Venice phone will also have an 18-megapixel camera and 3 GB of RAM.

The design of the next BlackBerry, whose devices are known for having physical QWERTY keyboards that allow business users to easily type lengthy e-mails, running Android is in question as well. The first BlackBerry device to feature Android might have a touchscreen and a physical keyboard. This would mean that users would be able to type with either the physical keyboard or use Android's default on-screen touchscreen keyboard.

The more powerful BlackBerry Venice might choose to shed the physical keyboard since it will be a larger device. Classic BlackBerry users might not like the missing physical keyboard, but those who are familiar with Android and touchscreen devices should be just fine.

BlackBerry might decide to release one version of a new phone that runs the BlackBerry 10 operating system and another version of a new phone that runs Android. Last year, HTC did the same thing when it released the HTC One M8 on both Android and Windows Phone.