A new BlackBerry 5G smartphone is coming soon and we can’t be more excited! BlackBerry, once a dominant smartphone manufacturer caved in the new era when the company couldn’t keep up with the trend of latest smartphones.
The company that took the chance of branding under BlackBerry was TCL. TCL launched a series of phones under the license; KEYone, Motion, KEY2, and KEY2 LE. That also came to an end after the agreement expired this month. If you are still longing for a physical QWERTY keyboard smartphone, we have good news as reports come in today that a company is picking up the brand name and we should see a BlackBerry 5G smartphone in the near future.
OnwardMobility is the new company announcing the licensing between BlackBerry and FIH Mobile Limited (FIH Mobile Limited is a subsidiary of Foxconn). This will allow OnwardMobility to manufacture new 5G enabled smartphones under the BlackBerry brand name. The device will arrive in North America and Europe in the first quarter of 2021. The only available information currently is a part of the name and that it will come with a physical keypad.
The latest agreement states that FIH Mobile Limited manufacture smartphones while OnwardMobility is in charge of marketing with BlackBerry allowed to keep its brand name.
Peter Franklin, CEO of OnwardMobility said in a press release
“Enterprise professionals are eager for secure 5G devices that enable productivity, without sacrificing the user experience. BlackBerry smartphones are known for protecting communications, privacy, and data. This is an incredible opportunity for OnwardMobility to bring next-generation 5G devices to market with the backing of BlackBerry and FIH Mobile.”
With the pandemic in full swing, work from home has become a norm. BlackBerry used to focus on security and vital data and applications. This will the focus of the BlackBerry 5G as well. This is also evident from the press release.
John Chen, Executive Chairman and CEO, BlackBerry further says
“BlackBerry is thrilled OnwardMobility will deliver a BlackBerry 5G smartphone device with physical keyboard leveraging our high standards of trust and security synonymous with our brand. We are excited that customers will experience the enterprise and government level security and mobile productivity the new BlackBerry 5G smartphone will offer.”
With foldable smartphone taking us back to the flip phone era, BlackBerry might just be able to bring back that physical keypad times back.
