Chinese electronics firm TCL unveiled its first BlackBerry–licensed smartphone KEYone in Barcelona on Saturday, which brings back BlackBerry’s signature physical keyboard as it seeks to revive itself in the enterprise market.

Officials from both firms unveiled the KEYone in Spain ahead of the start of the Mobile World Congress on Monday, the world's largest annual phone expo.

KEYone, powered by Google’s Android software, sells at 549 US dollars (about 3,781 RMB) and will go on sale around the globe in April this year.

The KEYone combines a 4.5 inch all-touch screen with a physical keyboard, which can be used for more than just typing: the spacebar also doubles as a fingerprint sensor while individual letter keys can be programmed as shortcuts to open specific apps.

Following a decade-long slide in BlackBerry sales, TCL provides BlackBerry a manufacturer that can still compete at a global scale, while TCL gains a new brand to shore up its own waning growth in smartphones.

Steve Cistulli, TCL's North America chief, told media that KEYone plans to target the enterprise market, in a bid to recapture the hearts of consumers as part of a broader strategy to challenge mobile behemoths Samsung and Apple. "We are going to use this device, to break the armor and it's our way in, once you have a way in you can get the mind share and hearts of those people."

TCL said new BlackBerry products would come out later this year. "What we are unveiling today is just the beginning of a new story," said TCL chief executive Nicolas Zibell.

But analysts say it could be a tough time for TCL’s BlackBerry devices as Apple, Samsung and Huawei are dominating the high-end smartphone market.