Are BlackBerry Phones Still Worth Buying In 2026?

Modern smartphones are useful and convenient tools, yet they can be rather distracting with access to apps, texting, and scrolling online. Older cell phones used to just make calls, send texts, offer basic games like Snake, and some could even browse the internet. These included the original BlackBerry phones, which came with all the aforementioned capabilities in a sleek black box.

BlackBerry phones were designed to be a quick way to check in on your professional work while looking quite cool doing so, but the company did become more modern with the 2017 release of one of its last phones, the BlackBerry KEYone. This model had an Android OS, a touch screen, and quick-charging capabilities. So if you want a phone with a physical keyboard that is capable of doing anything a smartphone can do without paying a lot of cash, a BlackBerry may still be worth buying in 2026.

Introduced in 1999, the BlackBerry 850 was released as a pager. A few years later in 2002, manufacturer Research in Motion (RIM) made the $549 BlackBerry 5810, a first-of-its-kind phone capable of browsing the internet, sending emails, making calls, and sending messages. They aren't being made anymore, but you can find inexpensive models available online. You can even get BlackBerrys with a touchscreen then get a BlackBerry-style physical keyboard to go with it.

Those who have had the pleasure of owning a BlackBerry say it was about more than just owning a unique phone — it was about having one that felt categorically different. "BlackBerry was that hardware, that software, that experience...those feels," said one owner. That look and feel is a major appeal for the company, which made other interesting and sometimes downright weird devices, as well.

The physical keyboard is one of the most appealing features of BlackBerry phones. Reviews are full of users saying that they absolutely love the real keyboard as it provides a tangible way to interact with the phone and type messages. Others say that having a physical keyboard makes it much easier to write, as touchscreens don't always register what you're typing correctly.

The later Blackberry models' specs also aren't bad when compared to smartphones of today. The BlackBerry KEYone has a 12MP rear camera and 8MP front camera, and it runs on Android 7.1 with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 and Octa-Core 2.0 GHz. You can still get them for $339.00 on Amazon.

Throughout its history, RIM released phones that caught fans' attention, however, one phone that users agreed was a failure was the BlackBerry Storm. The actual keyboard was replaced by a touchscreen that could be clicked, which reviews say was plain awful. The clicking screen technology was expensive to manufacture, and it didn't always work.

If there's one BlackBerry feature users still miss, it's the QWERTY keyboard. Original and older model BlackBerrys were famed for their use of an actual keyboard instead of relying on a touch screen like Apple and Android devices, which were frustrating to use early on. If you want to feel what it was like to use a physical keyboard on your phone, you can through the Clicks Communicator. It's a phone case with a physical keyboard that can fit around most existing phones and can be purchased on the company's website. As of this time of writing, Clicks Communicator offers its keyboard phone cases for certain iPhones, Razr, and the Pixel 9/9 Pro. 

Support for all BlackBerry products ended in 2022, leading to the end of the line of phones and PDAs made by RIM. There is hope for a modern revival of the fan-favorite device and other manufacturers are making QWERTY phones such as the Unihertz Titan 2.