Texas Company Promises to Release 5G BlackBerry With Physical QWERTY Keyboard in 2021
Texas-based startup OnwardMobility today announced that it plans to release a new Android-based BlackBerry smartphone with a physical QWERTY keyboard and 5G support in the first half of 2021 in North America and Europe.
The device will really only be a BlackBerry in spirit, as part of a brand licensing agreement with the Canadian company. Once a dominant player in the smartphone industry, BlackBerry exited the business in 2016 following years of declining sales, falling victim to the rise in popularity of the iPhone and Android smartphones.
While details are slim, OnwardMobility claims that its BlackBerry will sport a "world-class design" with a focus on security and productivity for "enterprise professionals."
Chinese company TCL reached a similar agreement with BlackBerry to manufacture BlackBerry-branded devices in 2016. That partnership is set to expire at the end of August, paving the way for OnwardMobility to step in.
BlackBerry briefly experimented with an Android-based smartphone of its own in 2015, the Priv, which combined a 5.4-inch display with a physical QWERTY keyboard.
Popular Stories
Apple recently announced that Tim Cook will be stepping down as CEO later this year, after 15 years of leading the company.
Effective September 1, Apple's hardware engineering chief John Ternus will become the company's next CEO, while Cook will become executive chairman of Apple's board of directors. In his new role, Apple said Cook will assist with "certain aspects" of the company,...
Instagram will remove end-to-end encryption for direct messages between users from May 8, 2026. When the date comes around, Meta will potentially be able to see the contents of all messages between users on the social media platform.
Encrypting messages has been an optional feature in Instagram since 2023, but in March of this year the social media platform quietly updated a help page to say ...
Apple today released a new Pride Edition Sport Loop for the Apple Watch. The band features a rainbow design with 11 colors of woven nylon yarns.
The new Pride Edition Sport Loop is available to order now on Apple.com and in the Apple Store app in 40mm, 42mm, and 46mm sizes, and it will be available at Apple Store locations starting later this week. In the U.S., the band costs $49.
There...
