Even if BlackBerry phones make a comeback, experts say smartphones with physical keyboards still have a long way to go if they want to gain a foothold in today's smartphone market.
Will BlackBerry Phones Still Work in 2023?
Once the world’s biggest smartphone brand, BlackBerry quickly fell from grace as the iPhone and Android phones took the market by storm. After years of absence, the smartphone that started it all seems poised to make a comeback, though experts say it will struggle to stay relevant in a world dominated by more established brands.
"I don't think BlackBerry will ever have the market share it once had," Christen Costa, a tech expert and CEO of Gadget Review, told Lifewire in an email. "Too much of the market is eaten up by Apple and Samsung, and people who have those phones tend to only buy those brands. But I can see BlackBerry making a niche product that appeals to two groups of people: older professionals and people who just hate on-screen keyboards."
When BlackBerry launched in the early 2000s, the smartphone was beloved for the way it allowed users to connect to their email. This eventually evolved to allow users to connect with each other through features like BlackBerry Messenger (BBM). BBM resembled features seen on newer phones like the iPhone’s iMessage, and it encouraged more users to adopt the smartphone and its sleek physical keyboard.
