In the past, BlackBerry phones were always touted to be a businessman's phone that centered on productivity and security. But over the past few years, the company has been struggling to come up with a product that would bring it back to its former glory. Now, the company has sought the help of China-based tech manufacturer TCL to move forward with their smartphone production.

The Canadian-based software and hardware manufacturer came up with a couple of products that attempted to take over the smartphone world, but alas, were not successful in their objectives. BlackBerry even tried to marry the best of both worlds by combining a high-quality tactile keyboard with an overall Android experience via their previously released smartphone: the BlackBerry Priv.

When that didn't work, the company approached TCL to produce two new products: the BlackBerry DTEK50 and the BlackBerry DTEK60. Unfortunately, even with their best efforts, the company still suffered a massive loss that amounted to $372 million as of September 2016. Given the situation, Blackberry has decided to leave the hardware side of things to their new partner and give them the leeway in order for them to focus more on software and security.

BlackBerry announced that it has signed a long-term licensing agreement with TCL for them to produce all the hardware required for their smartphones in the coming years. The company will still be very much involved with their new products, but only through its software and security aspects. BlackBerry also mentioned that they are very much excited about the partnership; their expertise in software and mobile security coupled with TCL's vast technological prowess would simply translate to the production of better BlackBerry-secured products overall.

It was reiterated in the company's latest press release that BlackBerry would still be solely responsible for the development and management of any new product's security and software as well, along with its continuous support for current customers.