BlackBerry 10 handset leaks online

A picture of a BlackBerry 10 smartphone alongside an iPhone 5 has leaked online.

The device looks a little like the so-called BlackBerry London we saw leaked previously - it’s slightly taller and wider than the iPhone 5, which itself appears to be housed in some kind of chunky case.

The display also seems to be slightly bigger than the iPhone 5’s 4-inch Retina screen, we'd guess perhaps 4.3-inches.

The image comes courtesy of Techcrunch, which doesn’t outline the source for the photo but presumably it was sent in by an anonymous tipster. The handset is turned off so we can’t see any fancy new features or interface elements of BlackBerry 10 unfortunately.

RIM is expected to launch BlackBerry 10 in January next year with two debut handsets, though whether this leaked device is one of the first batch remains to be seen.

We’ve previously seen previews of BlackBerry 10, which will introduce an entirely new interface and a new form of gesture controls. It’s based around a central and ever-present notifications hub, which also acts as a message and social networking aggregation centre (rather like Windows Phone’s People Hub).

Most recently it was revealed that BBM will feature a voice chat function over Wi-Fi connections.

However, RIM has been keeping many more features locked away behind closed doors, but we won’t have long to wait now until the big reveal.