BlackBerry 5G phone is officially dead again

If you are one of the few people awaiting the launch of the BlackBerry 5G phone, you are in for a disappointment. Onward Mobility, the Austin-based startup that licensed BlackBerry’s name for its phones, has shut down for good. So have its plans for the revival of BlackBerry phones.

The startup said on its website that it “will no longer be proceeding with the development of an ultra-secure smartphone with a physical keyboard.” The unsurprising news comes a month after the startup said it was “not dead”, contrary to popular belief.

Onward Mobility has not mentioned the reason behind its decision to end operations. “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,” said the company. Android Police, however, said in its report recently that the startup’s licence to use the BlackBerry name had been cancelled.

It makes sense because, in the notice of closure on its website, Onward Mobility has avoided mentioning BlackBerry in any sentence. Instead, it played safely by choosing words like “an ultra-secure phone” in its statement. A month ago, the situation was different and the company was using BlackBerry’s name to announce its 5G phone with a QWERTY keyboard would arrive this year.

The report added that BlackBerry was looking to shun its image as a smartphone brand after selling whatever was left of its mobile business in a $600 million deal for mobile patents. Onward Mobility apparently saw no point in going ahead with the plans to launch its ambitious phone, which was already a year late, without the BlackBerry name, especially since the smartphone industry is facing a component shortage and entering it without a robust support system will not be easy.

Onward Mobility first announced plans to launch a BlackBerry 5G phone back in 2020, but it mentioned its plans were derailed by the pandemic. Onward Mobility went radio silent after the announcement, but it came up with a solid statement to shut down the rumours about its closure in January right after BlackBerry announced it would end support for its classic phones for good.

The now-cancelled BlackBerry 5G phone was never detailed by Onward Mobility, but reports were rife that it was going to look like the BlackBerry Priv, which was BlackBerry’s first Android phone. BlackBerry made the Priv in-house but right after that, it outsourced the production of its mobile phones to TCL.