Skip to main content

Reddit says Blackberry is back, but take it with a grain of salt

BlackBerry Key2 seen from the front.
Andy Boxall/Digital Trends

Despite numerous efforts to save and/or revive the brand over the years, most people have accepted that Blackberry phones have gone the way of the dodo. However, a Reddit post suggests a UK-based startup is quietly working to resurrect the Blackberry Classic and more where the last attempts from Onward Mobility failed.

Reddit user u/coldheartedsigma shared the news to the Blackberry subreddit, but couldn’t provide the brand or show the complete design as they had “signed an NDA.” The post didn’t share much information, but it did mention specs including 5G, an AMOLED display, and 12GB of RAM with either 256 or 512GB of storage.

Recommended Videos

Supposedly, the new version of Blackberry will run Android 15, support some level of generative AI, and have a capacitive keyboard. There’s also supposedly a roadmap in the works for multiple QWERTY-based devices, and the startup  is “negotiating exclusive licensing for Blackberry patents.”

A slide from a Blackberry presentation.
Image used with permission by copyright holder

u/coldheartedsigma shared the above image, but edited the end result “not to get in trouble.” Unfortunately, the image is edited to the point that it’s nearly impossible to glean any information from. We can make out the phrase “Blackberry Patents” and “QWERTY,” as well as “The world’s first.” All other text is too obscured.

The post was met with a fair amount of skepticism, and we also encourage readers to take this with a potentially unhealthy does of sodium. While Blackberry has an enthusiastic fan base, this post isn’t indicative of much besides rumor. The original poster is a relatively new Reddit user and doesn’t have a track record to go from.

They also responded to another user and said, “Nobody said anything about reviving Blackberry. Blackberry are no longer in the smartphone sphere, and as such their name cannot be used by others.” If this startup succeeds in manufacturing a device akin to a Blackberry, it will likely be a phone with a similar design rather than one carrying the same name.

Patrick Hearn
Patrick Hearn writes about smart home technology like Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, smart light bulbs, and more. If it's a…
Classic BlackBerries are finally losing suppport as company shuts down services
BlackBerry Key2. Credits: BlackBerry official.

After kickstarting the smartphone era, BlackBerry's classic devices and services are finally shutting down. No, not the Android-powered modern BlackBerries such as the KeyOne, Key2, and Key2 LE, but anything that ran a BlackBerry-branded operating system. Whether this is a classic QWERTY keyboard powered by BlackBerry 7, or the iPhone-inspired BlackBerry 10, or even the forgotten BlackBerry PlayBook OS -- it's all shutting down this month.
"As another milestone in the BlackBerry journey, we will be taking steps to decommission the legacy services for BlackBerry 7.1 OS and earlier, BlackBerry 10 software, BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.1, and earlier versions, with an end of life or termination date of January 4, 2022," the company announced. "As of this date, devices running these legacy services and software through either carrier or Wi-Fi connections will no longer reliably function, including for data, phone calls, SMS, and 911 functionality. We have chosen to extend our service until then as an expression of thanks to our loyal partners and customers."
BlackBerry bids farewell to its longtime customers. Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends
It's the end of an era for what was once a distinguished product that defined the market a decade ago. Even predating iMessage, the BlackBerry instant messaging service -- BBM -- was a great selling point for the product line. As iOS, Android, and WhatsApp began to dominate, BlackBerry devices began to fall by the wayside.
The company tried to rejuvenate its smartphone business by launching its own touchscreen phones and later its own operating system in 2013, but had little success. Unable to keep up,ity stopped the creation of smartphones in 2016 and licensed services to TCL Ltd. between 2016 to 2020. BlackBerry promised to launch a smartphone by the end of 2021 in partnership with OnwardMobility, but that hasn't panned out. 
The company has now shifted its focus to selling software. It briefly had a nostalgia-fueled increase in its share price this year, which later nearly returned to its original price. While the market has been saturated with multiple companies claiming a stake in the smartphone pie, hopefully, BlackBerry manages to return to some form of relevance with its current partnership. 

Read more
BlackBerry rises from the grave: New 5G phone with a keyboard coming in 2021
BlackBerry Key2. Credits: BlackBerry official.

BlackBerry is the smartphone brand that steadfastly refuses to die. The presumed-dead name has been resurrected once again, this time by a new company called OnwardMobility. It will work with manufacturer FIH Mobile to create and sell a 5G BlackBerry Android phone with a physical keyboard, ready for a potential release in the U.S. and Europe during the first half of 2021.

You read that right: A new BlackBerry phone with a physical keyboard and 5G, running Google’s Android software, is coming next year. TCL Communications was the last company to produce BlackBerry smartphones. It did so under license from BlackBerry Ltd., which continues to provide mobile security services, but isn’t in the hardware business anymore. TCL let its license lapse in February 2020 when modern, Android-based BlackBerry phones became a thing of the past. Until now.

Read more
Moto G Stylus 2025 arrives to tempt Galaxy S25 Ultra buyers away
The Motorola Moto G Stylus with its stylus.

Are you looking for a smartphone with a stylus but aren’t interested in splashing out for the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra? Once again, Motorola raises its hand to catch your attention, and in the other it holds the new Moto G Stylus 2025, which costs a lot less than the Galaxy S25 Ultra, but still has the all-important stylus inside. 

The built-in stylus can be used with Google’s Circle to Search feature and with Motorola’s own Sketch to Image feature, which uses AI to turn your sketches into AI art for the Moto Note app. It can be used elsewhere on the phone, such as interacting with system settings and apps, and Motorola claims it is 6.4x more responsive than the previous Moto G Stylus’s pen. 

Read more