Uni

Let's start with Uni because well, this seems the most off base to me as it has thus far been presented. The folks over at LetsGoDigital have unearthed a few trademarks and patents owned by TCL and BlackBerry and have pieced together that there might be a BlackBerry smartphone in the works called 'Uni' and that it will feature a styling pretty much identical to the BlackBerry Priv. There is, however, a few problems here with the pieces of information.

First off, TCL already has a product called the Uni360. It's an Alcatel branded VR headset that was announced alongside the Alcatel Idol 5. The new trademark is for Uni, and its listing shares all the same registration codes as the Uni360, leading me to believe it's just an extension of the Uni360 VR headset branding or possibly just another Alcatel phone. Could it potentially be a BlackBerry device name? Sure, it could, but it seems unlikely they would mix the branding.

But what about the BlackBerry patent? Well, the BlackBerry patent is interesting and yes, it certainly does show off a device that looks identical to the Priv and yes, it was registered and granted AFTER the release of the Priv but when you really start looking into it, the patent is less about the device depicted in the patent documentation and more about the camera module.

As is almost always the case, the 'device' used in the patent is just a reference point, and the only reason why the Priv design was likely used is that it was the only device put out by BlackBerry that depicted the camera module referenced in the patent. They had the artwork already available and used it.

All that is to say, if you think BlackBerry Mobile will be resurrecting the Priv design, I don't think there's much chance that will happen. If anything, we'll see the camera design as outlined in that BlackBerry patent used somewhere else (Athena, Luna) and maybe see the Uni name used elsewhere, but don't have your heart set on seeing another Priv-like design.