BlackBerry was once the leader of the phone market in the United States and the rest of the world. However, the brand ceased operations more than a decade ago. It was in August of 2020 when Onward Mobility announced that it had licensed the BlackBerry name for its new phone. While there was a glimmer of hope, the company announced in 2022 that the alleged BlackBerry phone would never launch.
As the dream came to an end, a report from the same year claimed that BlackBerry was coming with a movie to tell its rise and fall story. Since then, we have heard very little about the brand. However, a Reddit post from two days ago has fueled hope for BlackBerry fans, hinting that it’s coming back.
The iconic BlackBerry brand could finally make its way back to the phone market
A Redditor, coldheartedsigma, has fueled the hope via a post claiming that a UK company is looking to revive the BlackBerry name. According to the post, the unnamed company is having words with investors to raise money via a pre-seed funding round. If claims are true, which we hope they are, the company is planning to revive Onward Mobility’s dream of bringing back the BlackBerry name to the phone market.
Putting it simply, the UK company is looking to launch 5G-enabled BlackBerry phones featuring the iconic physical QWERTY keyboard. The Redditor even managed to grab a screenshot of a slide from the pitch deck. He has edited the screenshot seen below, as his company is said to have signed an NDA (Non-Disclosure Agreement) with the UK company.
The post also hints that the company is negotiating for the exclusive licensing of BlackBerry patents. While the designs of the first 5G BlackBerry phone remain under wraps, the Redditor did spill a few details, fueling further hopes.
A few details of the alleged phone
The first BlackBerry phone made by the UK-based startup will supposedly come with an AMOLED display of unknown size. The device would feature 12GB of RAM and come in two storage variants: 256GB and 512GB. Moreover, it would incorporate a capacitive physical QWERTY keyboard, a feature that BlackBerry phones have gained immense popularity for.
The alleged BlackBerry phone is expected to feature GenAI features, 5G connectivity, and come pre-installed with Android 15. As seen in the blurry screenshot, we are hoping for a MediaTek Dimensity SoC to power the alleged BlackBerry phone.
A product roadmap appears to include multiple products that feature physical QWERTY keyboards. However, there’s no mention of the exact launch date of the alleged BlackBerry phone. Nor do we have any launch timeframe at the moment. Although this news about the BlackBerry phone may have given hope, we recommend taking it with a pinch of salt.
