BlackBerry Mobile announced on Monday that TCL Communication will stop selling BlackBerry phones after August 31, 2020.
BlackBerry Mobile said that they regret to share however that as of August 31, 2020, TCL Communication will no longer be selling BlackBerry-branded mobile devices.
Back in December 2016, TCL announced that it had obtained the right to develop and sell "BlackBerry" brand smartphones. At the time, it was considered an exciting revival of a long-loved brand, the BlackBerry.
Later, TCL successively launched BlackBerry KEYone, Motion, KEY2 and KEY2 LE and other BlackBerry brand mobile phones. Among them, the KEY series of mobile phones have attracted much attention because they bring the iconic design of BlackBerry (physical keyboard) to this world full of flat glass (touch screen).
Unfortunately, these nostalgic designs don't seem to be enough to revive BlackBerry phones.
For existing BlackBerry devices on the market, TCL Communication will continue to provide support for the existing portfolio of mobile devices including customer service and warranty service until August 31, 2022 – or for as long as required by local laws where mobile device was purchased.
In the statement, BlackBerry Mobile did not mention a phone system upgrade. However, some in the industry said that at least in the short term do not report too much hope.
Currently, BlackBerry KEY2 is still running Android 8.1 Oreo. Before the announcement, it was not possible to upgrade to Android 10.
Here is the full announcement:
When TCL Communication announced in December 2016 that we had entered into a brand licensing and technology support agreement with BlackBerry Limited to continue making new, modern BlackBerry smartphones available globally we were very excited and humbled to take on this challenge. Indeed, our KEY Series smartphones, starting with KEYone, were highly-anticipated by the BlackBerry community. What made these devices great wasn’t just the hardware developed and manufactured by TCL Communication, but also the critical security and software features provided by BlackBerry Limited to ensure these were genuine BlackBerry devices. The support of BlackBerry Limited was an essential element to bringing devices like BlackBerry KEYone, Motion, KEY2 and KEY2 LE to life and we’re proud to have partnered with them these past few years on those products.
We do regret to share however that as of August 31, 2020, TCL Communication will no longer be selling BlackBerry-branded mobile devices. TCL Communication will continue to provide support for the existing portfolio of mobile devices including customer service and warranty service until August 31, 2022 – or for as long as required by local laws where mobile device was purchased. Further details can be found at www.blackberrymobile.com or by phoning customer support at the numbers found at https://blackberrymobile.com/hotline-and-service-center/.
For those of us at TCL Communication who were blessed enough to work on BlackBerry Mobile, we want to thank all our partners, customers and the BlackBerry fan community for their support over these past few years. We are grateful to have had the opportunity to meet so many fans from all over the world during our world tour stops. The future is bright for both TCL Communication and BlackBerry Limited, and we hope you’ll continue to support both as we move ahead on our respective paths.
From everyone who worked on the BlackBerry Mobile team at TCL Communication over the years, we want to say ‘Thank You’ for allowing us to be part of this journey.
