Blackberry's 5G smartphone plans are now officially dead

OnwardMobility, Blackberry's mobile licensee, has announced that the company will not go further with its development of "ultra-secure" 5G smartphones that once dominated the phone market. However, OnwardMobility did not clarify why plans for its next 5G smartphone were scrapped, nor did the company announce its plans. Before OnwardMobility, TCL Corporation was involved in the development of Blackberry smartphones.

In a press release, Blackberry mobile licensee OnwardMobility said: "We want to thank you all for the tremendous amount of support that you have given us since we first launched OnwardMobility. However, with great sadness, we announce that OnwardMobility will be shutting down, and we will no longer be proceeding with the development of an ultra-secure smartphone with a physical keyboard. Please know that this was not a decision that we made lightly or in haste. We share your disappointment in this news and assure you this is not the outcome we worked and hoped for."

The launch of the ultra-secure 5G Blackberry smartphone was touted last year, but the company had to delay plans. OnwardMobility had claimed that the official launch did not happen last year as "2021 was truly a challenging year to launch a new phone". However, it reiterated that the plans were "not dead" earlier this year.

In January, support for all Blackberry and Blackberry Classic devices ended. It means that phones will not receive essential software updates, and users cannot use basic services like calls, SMS, and emergency calls. The company had advised users to switch to newer smartphones. The company was even experimenting with the Android operating system but failed to gain an advantage over the market. Blackberry launched the Blackberry Key2 in 2018 with Android OS and a physical keyboard. It even had dual 12-megapixel rear cameras and an 8-megapixel front camera.