A leaked image (pictured) appears to show an upcoming BlackBerry device running on Android, the strongest indication yet that the troubled handset maker is set to adopt the operating system.

The image, tweeted by Evan Blass, a Mashable freelance journalist renowned for accurate leaks, surfaced following a Reuters report earlier this month suggesting BlackBerry was working on its first smartphone powered by Android.

BlackBerry stated it “remains committed to the Blackberry 10 operating system”, in response to the original rumours. 

The company has however struggled to gain traction with the system, and in some ways it is already embracing Android by offering application compatibility for a range of content.

At Mobile World Congress in March, the company unveiled a new upcoming smartphone, with a built in keyboard which was clearly operating under the BB 10 OS.

However, this latest leaked photo purports to show an Android phone, reportedly codenamed BlackBerry Venice, with a dual curved display, similar to the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge.

Experts note that Blass’ image, and the image BlackBerry showed off at MWC, seem to match up, even though there is no keyboard on display. This, however, could be built in underneath the display of the device.

The image also shows Google application icons, suggesting that the device will have a full suite of Google apps and services.

Blass added that the ‘Blackberry Venice slider’ will be coming to US operator AT&T.