Security company will release BlackBerry phone with physical keyboard in 2021

A new Android phone will appear under the BlackBerry brand name next year. It has 5G support and a physical keyboard, but little else is known about it. The brand name has been taken over by the security company OnwardMobility.

The American security company OnwardMobility reports the new phone on its website. It says the company is partnering with BlackBerry and FIH Mobile to create a new Blackberry phone. The latter is a subsidiary of Foxconn. Details about that deal are not known. The device will be released in the first half of next year, both in the United States and in Europe.

BlackBerry CEO John Chen says in a press release that the phone has a physical keyboard. In addition, the device would mainly focus on safety, especially in business. “Enterprise professionals need secure 5g devices without sacrificing the user experience,” said Peter Franklin of OnwardMobilty.

BlackBerry no longer makes phones itself, but strikes deals with other companies that sell phones under that brand name. Since 2016, the Chinese company TCL has had the right to sell those phones worldwide. That deal will end in September, and no new TCL phones with the BlackBerry name will be sold.