Skip to main content

BlackBerry’s CEO isn’t lacking in confidence — He believes its phones will be profitable

BlackBerry may have lost much of the luster it had eons ago, but John Chen, the company’s CEO, isn’t backing down from the challenge. He told Business Insider he will make BlackBerry’s smartphone business profitable.

Over the years, BlackBerry’s business model has shifted to one that prioritizes enterprise and governments, posing the question about why BlackBerry continues to make smartphones. Chen answered by arguing that there are still a large number of customers that care about security.

Recommended Videos

“I can only make [the] iPhone so much more secure, but I can’t make it as secure as a BlackBerry device,” said Chen. “If you look at the U.S. Army, they’re still rolling out all BlackBerry. If I tell them there are no more phones, I lose that account. The question is how do you make phones profitable at the volume those people represent?”

Chen believes that BlackBerry can build on the relatively small market share it has now, in order to make its smartphone business profitable. Chen hinted at this same plan during BlackBerry’s fiscal results call back in March. The CEO then said the company would focus on “revenue stabilization,” after it surprised Wall Street by recording a profit.

Even though Chen didn’t reveal the specifics of his strategy, it seems like BlackBerry will continue to focus on its security features. It’s focusing on what BlackBerry does best that has allowed the company to remain a top choice among governments, law enforcement agencies, and corporations. In addition, we should continue to see interesting form factors for its smartphones in the very near future, including a possible successor to the very box-like BlackBerry Passport.

Whether this translates to success for BlackBerry in the consumer market is to be determined, though Chen sure seems very confident.

Please enable Javascript to view this content

Williams Pelegrin
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Williams is an avid New York Yankees fan, speaks Spanish, resides in Colorado, and has an affinity for Frosted Flakes. Send…
Google One subscribers could get a hugely important eSIM feature
The Google Pixel 9a's screen.

In the modern world of eSIMs, you don't have to worry about keeping track of a postage-stamp-sized piece of tech to use your phone, but there is one glaring downside: if you break your phone, transferring the eSIM from the broken device to your new one leaves you at the whims of your carrier. A new update to Google Play Services suggests an alternative might be on the way in the form of eSIM backup as part of the Google One subscription.

Android Authority dug into Google Play Services v25.16.33, the latest beta version, and found references that suggested a SIM data backup. You can pretty safely rule out physical SIM cards here, since those aren't affected by data wipes. That leaves only eSIMs, and it would certainly make it easier to transition from one phone to another.

Read more
OnePlus updates Watch 3 price for the US, and it’s good news
A person wearing the OnePlus Watch 3, showing the Wellness screen.

OnePlus has just announced that the price of its Watch 3 is going to drop back down.

The company originally launched it at $329.99. Then, due to what it called "current market conditions" in the U.S., that price hiked to $499.99 on April 10.

Read more
iPhone 17 final look leaks may be what we’re getting
Alleged Render of iPhone 17 Air.

The new iPhone 17 appears to be just ahead of final staging before going into mass production, adding weight to recent leaked images.

Yup, that should mean the image above, along with many leaks similar, are on track to be accurate.

Read more