Some time ago, it was confirmed that a new BlackBerry 5G phone with a keyboard would be launched this year. This will be the first BlackBerry phone in years. But now, it looks like this device was canceled after OnwardMobility lost the rights to the BlackBerry name.
In August 2020, it was revealed that OnwardMobility is the latest licensee for the BlackBerry brand for mobile phones. While BlackBerry 5G phones are experiencing delays, OnwardMobility is adamant that devices are on their way. However, according to an AndroidPolice report, the BlackBerry 5G project is dead. This news comes from Kevin Michaluk, founder of CrackBerry, and other sources have revealed that OnwardMobility is not planning on working on the project again.
Reporting from Gizmochina (12/2), the company has canceled the project despite having obtained a license to use the name of the phone maker. What’s more, even BlackBerry is trying to distance itself from its past identity as a mobile phone vendor by selling off its remaining phone patents earlier this month for $600 million.
While we haven’t seen any leaks regarding the BlackBerry 5G phone from OnwardMobility, it is believed to have a similar design to the previous BlackBerry Priv, which is an Android slider phone.
For information, the latest BlackBerry 5G phone was planned for release in mid-2021, but faced delays due to problems with the supply chain followed by BlackBerry CEO John Chen changing his decision to ask other OEMs to try and revive the brand in other phones. So, with OnwardMobility losing its license to its name, we probably won’t be seeing another BlackBerry phone for very long.
