BlackBerry is preparing for a come back in the smartphone market in 2021. The company’s new mark of resurrection will be a 5G capable phone but with its traditional signature – a physical keyboard.
The return of BlackBerry is in partnership with Foxconn subsidiary FIH Mobile and OnwardMobility. Because of that, some unprecedented changes have been made as well. The upcoming Blackberry 5G phone will target business professionals and not the casual privacy-focused consumers like before. But it will be running on Android.
“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,” says Peter Franklin, CEO of OnwardMobility.
Speaking about the same, John Chen, Executive Chairman, and CEO, BlackBerry, 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.”
What to note here is that BlackBerry isn’t entirely back to making phones. When the company’s smartphone business tanked at the outset of Android and iOS, BlackBerry tried to resurrect in 2013, but gave up three years later licensing the brand to Chinese manufacturer TCL – the license expires August 31st.
FIH Mobile will manufacture the BlackBerry-branded 5G phone while OnwardMobility will handle the planning and strategies. The upcoming phone will be announced in the first half of 2021.
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