Blackberry The original BlackBerry Passport
TL;DR The team behind BlackBerry Classic’s Android revival is now working on a similar project for the BlackBerry Passport.
Zinwa Technologies, the team behind the project, plans to sell DIY kits that will allow users to run Android on the Passport.
The kits aren’t available immediately, but will be available sometime in 2026, which is slightly disappointing.
Old, discarded BlackBerry phones are having a renaissance moment. We recently witnessed an initiative where decade-old BlackBerry Classic phones are being revived with newer hardware to run Android on those devices. And now, the BlackBerry Passport is in for a similar treatment.
Zinwa Technologies is the company that has recently started reviving old BlackBerry Classic handsets by installing new hardware and running Android 13 on them. Now that BlackBerry Classic mods are already in mass production, the company is shifting its attention to other products. It had previously promised to provide DIY kits for enthusiasts who wish to revive their old BlackBerry Passport, and has now updated the information about availability on its Discord server (via Liliputing).
While Zinwa is offering similar kits for the Classic too, it is also selling pre-built units. Unfortunately for those who want the Passport, the company will not sell finished units and has cited the limited quantity of the BlackBerry Passport as the reason. While the Classic is codenamed Q25 Pro, the Passport kits will be sold as P26.
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If the idea psyches you, some disappointment is set to follow. Zinwa has said the kits won’t be available until 2026. When exactly in 2026? We don’t know yet. Perhaps the team doesn’t either, as it hasn’t concluded testing the hardware.
Zinwa hasn’t finalized the internals that will replace the existing hardware inside the Passport. Notably, the revived BlackBerry Classic features a MediaTek Helio G99 chipset, upgraded cameras, a USB-C port, and a larger battery. We want to expect similar or better specifications on the revived Passport, but there’s no guarantee at the moment.
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