BlackBerry fans will not get a 5G phone after all.
Andrew Hoyle/CNETThe delayed 5G BlackBerry phone is dead, OnwardMobility has confirmed on its website.
“It is with great sadness that 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,” OnwardMobility said in a message posted Friday, as spotted earlier by CrackBerry. “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.”
Android Police and CrackBerry originally reported the phone had been cancelled on Feb. 11, saying OnwardMobility, a Texas-based startup seeking to revitalize the iconic brand through an Android-based, next-gen Wi-Fi device, lost the license from BlackBerry Ltd. to use the BlackBerry brand name.
OnwardMobility did not expand on why it is shutting down and cancelling production of the phone.
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The news comes after BlackBerry ended service for its legacy devices in early January and OnwardMobility promised an update about the phone in a blog post last month titled: “Contrary to popular belief, we are not dead.”
Before OnwardMobility picked up the license, Chinese manufacturer TCL was the most recent maker of BlackBerry-branded phones. It released the BlackBerry KeyTwo in 2018, along with other devices that ran on Android. However, TCL has since moved on to releasing its own midrange phones.
BlackBerry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
