BlackBerry, once the world’s most successful and popular phone is making its comeback in 2021. BlackBerry was left for dead a couple of times over the past decade, but it denies going away permanently. After declaring its severing ties with its previous manufacturer TCL back in 2019, BlackBerry has now joined Austin-based OnwardMobility and FIH Mobile Limited, a subsidiary of Foxconn Technology Group to make smartphones. Not just any smartphones, these upcoming flagships from the company will rock traditional BlackBerry physical keyboards.
While the press release from OnwardMobilty last year confirmed that the upcoming BlackBerry devices will be launched in North America and Europe leaving the Asian fans saddened, a new report from Nikkei Asia suggests that these phones will also be announced in Asia. As mentioned earlier, the original announcement was first made in August last year, but the project appears to have picked up the steam recently now that the company is planning to release the devices as soon as possible.
From the report, we can understand that “OnwardMobility is hoping for better luck through its partnership with FIH Mobile, Foxconns’s Android phone-making arm. They are jointly developing the new model to be sold under the BlackBerry brand, featuring the signature keyboard as well as a top of the line camera and 5G connectivity.” Peter Franklin who leads OnwardMobility is reported to have said that Asia is a very important market as well. It is worth noting that the manufacturer does not have a defined timeframe around the possible launch of the phones in Asia but the CEO said “process of speaking to customers and mobile carriers on a global scale to develop our distribution plan.”
Peter Franklin further added that their long-term goal is to have these devices assembled in the USA and he also believes that there is still a market for Blackberry phones and these phones with physical keyboards can boost productivity. We are not really sure how will these physical keyboards pan out in 2021 considering all the manufacturers are trying to make the phones with all display fronts by cutting bezels. But it clearly appears that the company has no intention of making these upcoming devices touchscreen-only like BlackBerry Evolve or BlackBerry Motion. This decision by the company makes sense. I mean, why come back with BlackBerry branding when there is no physical keyboard? We still believe that there is a separate set of audiences who want their phones to have physical keyboards.
We all know that BlackBerry is known for two things. One of which is the physical keyboard and the other one is security. It is worth noting that the company is also bringing back security. The upcoming devices will also provide protection against data leaks and online threats. OnwardMobility confirms that they will partner with an external cybersecurity company for the same. The current smartphone market, as you know, is highly competitive, and it’s definitely not easy for Blackberry devices to sustain unless they have an excellent game plan. But, these devices will have an edge over the competition as they come with a physical keyboard and remained much secured than the competition. As of now, we do not have any information around the specifications, pricing, or availability of the device. For more information around the upcoming BlackBerry devices, stay tuned!
