It can feel like 2020 delivers a new apocalyptic omen on a daily basis. We've had murder hornets, cursed daggers from 3000BC, and Kanye running for president. The latest: 5G BlackBerrys.
Yep, the smartphone brand that just won't die is back again with start-up OnwardMobility having acquired the rights to develop and sell a 5G Android smartphone using the BlackBerry name. OnwardMobility will work with FIH Mobile - subsidiary of Foxconn, the Chinese manufacturing powerhouse that builds iPhones for Apple - to manufacture the devices.
We don't quite know exactly what a 5G BlackBerry will look like, but OnwardMobility has confirmed the phones will still have a physical keyboard. While it's certainly interesting to see variety in a very homogenous market, we're not convinced a physical keyboard has a place on a smartphone anymore. In our review of the BlackBerry KEY2 last year, we found it anachronistic. Even though it felt great to type on, it's not the best way to interact with a phone anymore.
TCL was the previous manufacturer of BlackBerry smartphones, having near-global rights to the brand. In February this year, TCL announced it no longer had the rights to design, build or sell any new BlackBerry devices, and that it would stop selling its current BlackBerry devices - such as the KEY2 - from August 31.
Local managing director for Alcatel (TCL's mobile subsidiary) Sam Skontos told us that while the allocation of BlackBerry phones brought to Australia sold well, TCL wanted to focus on selling devices under its own name - such as the newly released TCL 10 Pro.
OnwardMobility plans to bring its first 5G BlackBerry smartphone to market in the first half of next year. The device has been confirmed for North America and European, but there's no word on Australia yet.
Alex Choros
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