While the partnership between BlackBerry and TCL has come to an end, BlackBerry fans were left wondering if the company would return to manufacture PKB smartphones or find a new partner company to produce new devices. Now, the company and FIH Mobile has come to an agreement with OnwardMobility to deliver a new 5G capable BlackBerry-branded Android smartphone by the first half of 2021.
As per the new agreement, BlackBerry has officially granted OnwardMobility the rights to design and engineer a new Android-powered 5G smartphone with a physical keyboard. With the increasing demand for secure smartphones for employees working remotely with critical data and applications and with the threat of cyberattacks, BlackBerry understands a highly secure smartphone is required with high-speed 5G capabilities. OnwardMobility is a company that deals with mobile security and FIH Mobile is a subsidiary of Foxconn Technology Group.
“Enterprise professionals are eager for secure 5G devices that enable productivity, without sacrificing the user experience,” said Peter Franklin, CEO of OnwardMobility. “BlackBerry smartphones are known for protecting communications, privacy, and data. This is an incredible opportunity for OnwardMobility to bring next-generation 5G devices to market with the backing of BlackBerry and FIH Mobile.”
“BlackBerry is thrilled OnwardMobility will deliver a BlackBerry 5G smartphone device with physical keyboard leveraging our high standards of trust and security synonymous with our brand. We are excited that customers will experience the enterprise and government level security and mobile productivity the new BlackBerry 5G smartphone will offer,” said John Chen, Executive Chairman and CEO, BlackBerry.
The CEO of the Texas-based OnwardMobility also mentioned that they want the new 5G BlackBerry Android smartphone to be a “Global Flagship”. However, the “Global Flagship” term might not relate to the fact that the new device will have the fastest processor. It’s because the previous BlackBerry Android smartphones made by TCL were equipped with mid-range Qualcomm processors. For example, while the BlackBerry KEY2 was considered as a flagship smartphone of the BlackBerry-TCL line-up, the device was powered by the mid-range Snapdragon 660 processor. The whole idea was to have a power-efficient processor that can also deliver optimum performance and longer battery life.
That said, it would be surprising that the new 5G smartphone could have a flagship processor to compete with the best high-end smartphones in the market. While there isn’t any information yet on the specifications of the new smartphone, we now know that the new BlackBerry smartphone will be a 5G-capable device. The BlackBerry KEYone was the first smartphone released with the partnership with TCL and while it had a good design and Snapdragon 625 processor, the smartphone was criticized for its insufficient 3GB RAM that caused performance slowdowns. TCL then released an improved version of the KEYone with 4GB RAM and 64GB of storage. The series expanded later with the introduction of the BlackBerry KEY2 with a sleeker design, faster performance, and a dual-lens camera. TCL also released a KEY2 LE, which is an affordable version of the KEY2.
We expect more details of the upcoming BlackBerry smartphone to emerge in the coming months. Stay tuned for more information.