BlackBerry Priv won't receive any more updates, but a trade-up program is on the way

We learned in September that BlackBerry wouldn’t be updating the Priv to Android Nougat, despite that it launched with Android Lollipop. It was disappointing news, though the company said it would continue smaller Priv updates for a while. Now, BlackBerry has confirmed that the device will no longer receive any further updates at all.

The news appeared in a post on the official BlackBerry blog site (via PhoneScoop) where Alex Thurber, the General Manager of BlackBerry Mobility Solutions, outlined the situation. Thurber said that, now that the phone has “stepped outside the original 2-year window” (the Priv first went on sale in November, 2015) that the company wouldn’t be providing any more updates going forward. However, Thurber did make some other promises where future support was concerned.

Should a critical problem arise in terms of security, Thurber said that BlackBerry would “engage [its] partners as needed to develop and deliver necessary patches” to the Priv, and what it would still “fulfil all warranty obligations” regarding the handset.

What’s more interesting is that Thurber also touched on an upcoming “trade-up” program that the Priv would be party to.

“We will soon be introducing a trade-up program for current BlackBerry customers who are still using the Priv as well as those holding onto BB10 and BBOS devices,” he wrote. “Stay tuned for details and get ready to upgrade to a BlackBerry KeyOne or Motion, the most secure Android smartphones on the planet.”

BlackBerry already has something of a devout (if no longer enormous) following due to its phones having unique characteristics — things like proprietary security features and physical keyboards. While we don’t know anything else about this service just yet, it could be a good way for BlackBerry to keep customers coming back to its products, and reward loyal fans.

What are your thoughts on these developments? Let us know in the comments.