Startup OnwardMobility, the owner of the license for the production of BlackBerry smartphones, has stopped developing a new smartphone. According to rumors, the company has lost the rights to use the brand name.
The latest news about BlackBerry 5G was published a month ago. In a blog post, OnwardMobility promised that despite regular delays that prevented it from launching a product in 2021, development continues and the company will provide regular news "about the 5G-enabled smartphone and keyboard it brings to market."
However, according to Kevin Michaluk, founder of the CrackBerry forum, OnwardMobility has stopped development of the BlackBerry 5G because it lost the rights to the name.
The release of the smartphone was scheduled for mid-2021, but never took place. According to sources, disruptions in the supply chain, as well as BlackBerry's desire to distance itself from the smartphone market, led to the closure of the project.
BlackBerry moved away from smartphone development in 2016 by licensing the brand to China's TCL, which managed to launch a handful of devices through 2018. At the beginning of 2020, TCL stopped working on new smartphones and sold the license to OnwardMobility. It's not yet clear if OnwardMobility will try to turn its development into something viable, albeit not under the BlackBerry brand.
bbabo.Net