Shortly after TCL’s deal to license the BlackBerry branding expired, a company called OnwardMobility announced that it would bring a new device with a physical keyboard and 5G connectivity to market during 2021. As you probably know, we are now in 2022 and there’s still no new BlackBerry device to be seen and OnwardMobility has been radio silent since March 2021. It’s not dead, apparently, because the company released a statement on its website proclaiming that “Contrary to popular belief, we are not dead.”
As you can read from the embedded statement above, OnwardMobility is insistent that it is still alive and kicking, and that a new BlackBerry device is on schedule to be announced during 2022. There’s an apology for its radio silence since March 2021, and a vague excuse for not shipping a device last year although that is a little harsh on my party when you consider the ongoing chip shortage and that little thing called COVID-19 that has changed the way the world works.
So. Will we see a new BlackBerry device with 5G support and a physical keyboard announced in 2022? That’s anybody’s guess until we see something tangible such as a concept device, which is the bare minimum. As such, OnwardMobility has to be considered as vaporware for the time being although we do hope that we are wrong and that a new BlackBerry phone will launch sometime this year.
