BlackBerry said that reports of unusually high levels of returns for its Z10 smartphone were “absolutely false”, as analysts questioned the ongoing success of its turnaround plan.

According to a Wall Street Journal report published yesterday, financial research firm Detwiler Fenton said that in some cases “returns are now exceeding sales, a phenomenon we have never seen before”.

A statement issued by the beleaguered vendor disputed this, stating that: “Our data shows that return rates for BlackBerry Z10 devices both in the US and on a global basis are in line with or better than our expectations and are consistent with return rates for other premium smartphones in the market today.”

The WSJ also cited an analyst with ITG, who said that sales following the Z10’s US launch “started poorly and weakened significantly as days passed”, to the point where it is now “in-line to marginally ahead of anaemic sales” of older BlackBerry devices and Nokia’s Lumia 822.

The launch of the first device powered by the new BlackBerry 10 platform was met with a “lukewarm” response, according to earlier reports.

With the US traditionally being something of a stronghold for the company, success in this market was seen as an important reflection of its performance as a whole.

However, the company is set to launch its next device, the Q10, soon, which will be the first BlackBerry 10 device to include a QWERTY keypad – another of BlackBerry’s traditional selling points.