Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Mobile
  3. News

BlackBerry rises from the grave: New 5G phone with a keyboard coming in 2021

Andy Boxall
By

BlackBerry is the smartphone brand that steadfastly refuses to die. The presumed-dead name has been resurrected once again, this time by a new company called OnwardMobility. It will work with manufacturer FIH Mobile to create and sell a 5G BlackBerry Android phone with a physical keyboard, ready for a potential release in the U.S. and Europe during the first half of 2021.

You read that right: A new BlackBerry phone with a physical keyboard and 5G, running Google’s Android software, is coming next year. TCL Communications was the last company to produce BlackBerry smartphones. It did so under license from BlackBerry Ltd., which continues to provide mobile security services, but isn’t in the hardware business anymore. TCL let its license lapse in February 2020 when modern, Android-based BlackBerry phones became a thing of the past. Until now.

Recommended Videos

OnwardMobility has the rights to develop, engineer, and market BlackBerry phones, which sounds like the same deal BlackBerry made with TCL in 2016. Unsurprisingly, it is highlighting the BlackBerry brand’s high level of security and privacy as a major selling point, and although the tone of its website and press release suggests it’s mostly targeting business and governments with its new phone, Digital Trends confirmed with the company that it will sell the upcoming devices to the general public too.

The question then becomes, will anyone want a BlackBerry phone in 2021? When TCL released the BlackBerry KeyOne in 2017 it came on a wave of nostalgia, with many people who started out their mobile life with a BlackBerry phone keen to return to using a physical keyboard. TCL went on to make the much-improved BlackBerry KeyTwo and the BlackBerry KeyTwo LE. It sold to both consumers and businesses.

While the specific reasons why TCL decided not to continue with the license are not known, it’s unlikely it would have stopped if the phones were selling in large numbers. It’s not clear yet how OnwardMobility intends to market its own BlackBerry phone with a physical keyboard to those who are used to smartphones with large touchscreens, and at a time when folding phones are just starting to turn heads. We’ll learn more over the coming months.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Andy Boxall
Andy Boxall
Senior Mobile Writer
Andy is a Senior Writer at Digital Trends, where he concentrates on mobile technology, a subject he has written about for…
BlackBerry trailer depicts the rise and fall of the iconic phone
Jay Baruchel and Glenn Howerton as Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie in BlackBerry.

Before iPhones and Androids took over the world, there was the BlackBerry. Armed with its signature keyboard and internet access, the story of the unprecedented rise and catastrophic fall of the company is chronicled in BlackBerry, which released its official trailer on Wednesday.

Jay Baruchel stars as Mike Lazaridis, the founder of Blackberry. Along with Douglas Fregin, played by director Matt Johnson (Operation Avalanche), the duo is approached by Jim Balsillie (It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia's Glenn Howerton), who would help turn BlackBerry from a fascinating idea to a billion-dollar company. The relationship between Lazaridis and Balsille became rocky toward the end as the company faced competition from Apple and Google.

Read more
I’ve used Android phones for 10 years, and I hate these ones the most
pixel 4 xl rear sticking out

I’ve been using and reviewing Android smartphones for at least a decade, and during that time, I’ve spent time with a massive variety of devices that mostly fall into three distinct categories: good, passable, and bad. But what about the ones that have really stirred my emotions in a negative way? The phones that have elicited a visceral, guttural response? I’m not talking about the ones I love, but the ones I’ve downright hated.

Here are the six models that have irked me the most over the last 10 years of using and reviewing smartphones, and the reasons why they’ve made this list.
Google Pixel 4

Read more
What is 5G UC? Here’s what that icon on your phone really means
5G logo on the Motorola Edge (2022).

If you own a 5G-capable smartphone — which are all of the best phones today — there’s a good chance you’ve seen different 5G network icons showing up in your status bar. It’s a stark contrast to the pre-5G days when your phone showed “4G” or “LTE” no matter where you went.

It can get a bit confusing to see a 5G indicator one moment and then “5G UC” or “5G UW” the next. It’s not something you need to worry too much about, as you don’t usually have much control over it, but it’s still helpful to understand what these different symbols mean — and why they matter.
The humble beginnings of 5G

Read more