BlackBerry ended its partnership with TCL earlier this year. While most BlackBerry fans thought that would mark the end of BlackBerry phones, the company has today announced its plans to team up with OnwardMobility and FIH Mobile Limited for making a 5G BlackBerry Android smartphone with physical QWERTY keyboard.
According to the press release, the first smartphone through this partnership will get launched in the first half of 2021. BlackBerry will launch the phone in North America and Europe. Hence, it is better not to get your hopes up if you’re a BlackBerry fan from India.
Although the release mentions just a single 5G phone with keyboard, a new poster on OnwardMobility’s website mentions that new ‘BlackBerry 5G smartphones’ are coming in 2021. It will be interesting to see if we will be witnessing more devices through this partnership going forward.
BlackBerry is targeting its upcoming 5G phone at enterprise professionals. The company is primarily attempting to offer employees and executives a secure Android experience that enhances productivity while protecting users from security threats like cyberattacks.
“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,” said BlackBerry CEO John Chen.
BlackBerry’s resurrection is indeed good news for the smartphone market, especially since every other phone follows a glass sandwich design now. The important question, however, is whether BlackBerry has learned from its mistakes to come back with new strategies.
