Where was my BlackBerry Made?

Our homes are filled with products that were produced in a variety of different locations across the world.

Some items are simple enough to be produced in one location domestically and shipped out to customers. But when it comes to something as complicated as a smartphone, is it possible to pump them out of an industrial estate in Norfolk, or is there a lot more going on behind the scenes? Many users are asking “Where was my BlackBerry made?”

Humble beginnings

BlackBerry is based in Canada and until earlier this year it was known as Research In Motion, or RIM for short.

Although its name may have changed, it is still headquartered in Ontario and this is the hub from which most of the major decisions are made, both in terms of the design of new handsets and the direction of the business.

BlackBerry employs a diverse team of technicians and designers who work together to create phones based on the BB 10 operating system, including the likes of the Z10, Q10 and Q5. They are currently developing a new device likely to go by the name of the Z30, introducing a five inch screen to the mix.

If you are one of those users asking the question “Where was my BlackBerry made?” then this guide should run you through the whole production process, from inception to manufacturing.

This means that the likely origin for BlackBerry phones is in Canada, where executives can oversee everything and shape the path taken by major projects. BlackBerry employees are often able to test unreleased phones prior to launch, although this can come after mass production has begun, allowing for bugs to be identified and ironed out.

Component concerns

Smartphones are a little like PCs in that while they may bear the brand of a specific manufacturer, they tend to be filled with components from a range of different companies. For example, Apple uses screens from Samsung for its iPhone range, in spite of the fact that the two companies are at war in the courts over various issues.

For BlackBerry the components are gathered from a variety of companies. The Z10 uses a Qualcomm Snapdragon processor and things like the RAM and screen might come from several suppliers. This means that while each BlackBerry manufactured within a range should behave the same, two Z10s may not possess identical components in terms of their origins.

Factory fitted

BlackBerry assembles all of these components at facilities in a variety of countries and to work out where your device has been put together you can simply look at the documentation which is provided with the phone.

It may be posted on the box, or on a stick under the battery, but the country in which the phone was manufactured will be printed there for anyone to see.

At the moment BlackBerry has factories in its native Canada as well as Mexico and Hungary.

While there are some arguments over whether or not the quality of a phone is influenced to a significant degree by where it was made, things should be pretty consistent across the board.

Shipping

Once BlackBerry’s factories have pumped out handsets on production lines that are manned by both automated, computer-controlled processes and human technicians, it is simply a case of shipping the smartphones to the various nations in which they are being sold.

In the UK network providers may add their own branding to the packaging and could request that specific software is installed at the factory before shipping, although this depends on the nature of the relationship between BlackBerry and these operators.

So where was your BlackBerry made? If you have got a couple of minutes spare you can find out for yourself.