The phone that once ruled South Africa and much of the world might soon get a second life.
Chinese company Zinwa Technologies is reviving the BlackBerry Classic, complete with its iconic QWERTY keyboard but loaded with modern hardware.
According to Mybroadband, the company is currently working to bring back a limited number of BlackBerry Classic phones running Android.
From relic to reboot
BlackBerry officially pulled the plug on its legacy devices in January 2022, cutting off services that made older phones function reliably. But Zinwa is betting on nostalgia and practicality with the Zinwa Q25 Pro, a re-engineered version of the BlackBerry Classic Q20.
Instead of running the old BlackBerry OS, the Q25 Pro is built on Android 13. Zinwa has swapped out the outdated internals for a MediaTek Helio G99 chipset, 12GB of RAM, and up to 256GB of storage.
It also comes with a 50MP main camera, USB-C charging, and a 3,000mAh battery: about 15% larger than the original.
And yes, the physical keyboard and trackpad still work seamlessly with Android!
Limited but ambitious
But the Q25 Pro isn’t being positioned as a mass-market rival to iPhones or Samsungs just yet. Zinwa plans to ship the first 100 devices by the end of August 2025, with mass production following in September.
Pricing starts at $420 (around R7 400 before taxes and duties). For die-hard fans with an old BlackBerry Q20 in a drawer, Zinwa also sells a DIY conversion kit for $320.
There’s one catch: Zinwa hasn’t promised long-term Android updates, so early buyers may not get much software support.
On a scale of 1-10, how much did you love your BlackBerry?
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