TCL to stop making BlackBerry Android smartphones

TCL's BlackBerry licensing deal won't be renewed in August, putting the future of BlackBerry smartphones in doubt

TCL will stop making BlackBerry smartphones in August when its current licensing deal comes to an end. The decision throws into doubt the future of BlackBerry-branded smartphones amid disappointing sales.

TCL acquired the design and manufacturing rights to the BlackBerry brand in a deal struck in December 2016. The KEYone was the first of these devices - an Android-based smartphone bearing BlackBerry's iconic physical keyboard, followed-up with the KEY2 and cut-price KEY2 LE. None of the UK's main mobile operators today offer BlackBerry devices to subscribers.

What made these devices great [was] the critical security and software features provided by BlackBerry

A statement from TCL makes clear the company's intention to terminate the relationship: "As of August 31, 2020, TCL Communication will no longer be selling BlackBerry-branded mobile devices," but added that the company would continue to support existing devices, under warranty, until the end of August 2022.

It added: "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 to ensure these were genuine BlackBerry devices."

In 2018, TCL and BlackBerry had reportedly targeted a three per cent global market share, although the premium price of the KEYone and KEY2, given their mid-range internals, made achieving this target unlikely. Security features, such as full-disk encryption, also makes Bluetooth connections with, say, in-car systems somewhat limited.

Other BlackBerry security features include Secure Boot, preventing tampering of hardware and software during the boot process; operating system rollback protection, preventing an attacker from downgrading Android to an earlier version in order to exploit old vulnerabilities; and, kernel hardening on the KEY2 to remove unnecessary features.

As such, while the TCL Android BlackBerry devices have found a market in sensitive sectors, such as banking, it has also limited its wider market acceptance.

It's not yet clear whether BlackBerry will resume designing and making its own smartphones, although this seems unlikely given the reorientation of the company towards software and services since 2016.