The BlackBerry 5G phone will no longer be launched

If the decision to sell the patents he had in the field of mobile telephony was not enough, today we have the confirmation that we will not see a new BlackBerry smartphone in the near future. Onward Mobility, the company that announced a few years ago that it was working on a BlackBerry smartphone with 5G, gave up this project, and the license from the Canadian company would no longer be available for the development of new devices.

Onward Mobility was working on the first 5G BlackBerry device

According to Android Police, Onward Mobility, the company that licensed BlackBerry smartphones after TCL’s “divorce,” ran into problems, especially in the area of ​​component sourcing. The current context of the industry has led to a lack of access to chips and other parts needed for the development of smartphones. As Onward is a relatively unknown company with no previous links in the industry, it could not obtain contracts with suppliers to start production.

The original plan was for the phones to be launched sometime in 2021, but the plans were still postponed. But now that BlackBerry has sold its intellectual property that covered many technologies for mobile devices and internet messaging, the smartphone license would no longer be available to partners.

The fact that Onward Mobility is no longer working on a BlackBerry smartphone does not mean that this device will never reach the market. In January, the company confirmed that it was still working on a phone with a physical keyboard and 5G connectivity, but did not mention the BlackBerry brand directly. Thus, it is possible to see that phone that carried the famous brand in production, but under a different name.

However, it is not clear to what extent the company will be able to bring such a phone to market without a strong brand behind it, which would help spread the word. Even though BlackBerry has not been a major player in the mobile market for many years, its name is still easy to recognize.

source: Android Police