As a relief to millions of Blackberry enthusiasts, OnwardMobility has announced that a new Blackberry phone is on the card for 2022.
In a blog post titled ‘Contrary to popular belief, we are not dead’, the Texas-based partner of Blackberry said that it is launching an ‘ultra-secure 5G enterprise smartphone with keyboard’.
Earlier, OnwardMobility announced that it would launch a Blackberry 5G in the first half of 2021, a promise that did not surface. According to the company, it ‘encountered various delays preventing shipping the phone in 2021.’ Considering the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and related market struggles, the justification for the delay seems logical. The market leaders including Samsung, Google and Apple were affected by the scenario.
In its blog post, OnwardMobility further apologized for the delay in delivery and promised more regular updates starting this month.
Recently, BlackBerry announced that it is shutting down the support for its devices, OS, email and messaging services and other assorted software. When the official confirmation came up on January 4, the widespread assumption was that the brand might not resurface.
In its official confirmation, Blackberry said that it is stopping all supports provided for its classic devices running BlackBerry 10, 7.1 OS and earlier. This indicated that the older devices not running on Android will no longer be able to use data, access the internet, send text messages, or make calls. The last version of the Blackberry operating system was launched in 2013. Blackberry tried touchscreens and slide-out keyboard models, all with little success.
Blackberry 5G May Feature Android OS
Considering that the brand shut down its OS, the upcoming Blackberry 5G could run on the Android 12 platform.
There is no further information available about the specifications of the device. Hopefully, the company may shed light on the features later this month. The New Blackberry 5G phone is expected to debut in multiple markets, including Asia, North America and Europe. Several Blackberry phones were launched under the TCL brand from 2016 to 2018. The license with TCL ended in 2020. Whether the new partnership with OnwardMobility can make a difference remains to be seen.
