OnwardMobility has signed licencing agreements with BlackBerry Limited and FIH Mobile Limited, a subsidiary of Foxconn Technology Group, to deliver a new BlackBerry 5G smartphone by next year.

The announcement comes after BlackBerry ended its partnership with TCL earlier this year.

TCL Communication will no longer be selling BlackBerry phones from September 2020, the brand had announced in February.

The brand will now bring out a 5G smartphone powered by Android, with a physical keyboard, in the first half of 2021 in North America and Europe.

“We are excited that customers will experience the enterprise and government level security and mobile productivity the new BlackBerry 5G smartphone will offer,” said John Chen, Executive Chairman and CEO, BlackBerry.

As part of the agreement, OnwardMobilit can develop, engineer, and bring a BlackBerry 5G mobile device on the market. It will be working closely with BlackBerry and FIH Mobile.

“Enterprise professionals are eager for secure 5G devices that enable productivity, without sacrificing the user experience,” said Peter Franklin, CEO of OnwardMobility. “BlackBerry smartphones are known for protecting communications, privacy, and data. This is an incredible opportunity for OnwardMobility to bring next-generation 5G devices to market with the backing of BlackBerry and FIH Mobile.”

FIH Mobile will be OnwardMobility’s exclusive supplier and will design and manufacture the BlackBerry 5G devices.