For nearly a decade, the smartphone industry marched in a single direction: bigger screens, fewer buttons, and the total elimination of physical keyboards. BlackBerry, the once-dominant titan of tactile typing, officially ceased operations in 2022, and with it went what many assumed was the final chapter in the story of phones with real, pressable keys. But something unexpected is happening. A growing number of startups, enthusiast brands, and even established manufacturers are betting that consumers — or at least a passionate subset of them — want their buttons back.
The trend is small but unmistakable. Devices like the Unihertz Titan series, the Clicks keyboard accessory for iPhones, and the recently revived interest in slider and flip designs with physical input mechanisms are carving out a niche that major manufacturers abandoned years ago. As CNET reported, the disappearance of BlackBerry hasn’t killed the physical keyboard phone — it may have actually liberated it.
A Market Abandoned, Then Rediscovered
The story of how physical keyboards vanished from mainstream phones is well known. Apple’s iPhone, launched in 2007, proved that a full touchscreen could replace a physical keyboard for the mass market. Android followed suit, and by the mid-2010s, virtually every major manufacturer had abandoned hardware QWERTY layouts. BlackBerry attempted to straddle both worlds with devices like the BlackBerry Key2 in 2018, but sales were disappointing. The company that once commanded more than 50% of the U.S. smartphone market saw its share dwindle to a statistical rounding error.
But the death of BlackBerry as a phone maker didn’t extinguish demand — it merely scattered it. According to CNET, a constellation of smaller companies has stepped into the void, targeting professionals, security-conscious users, and nostalgic typists who never made peace with glass keyboards. The market for these devices is modest by Samsung or Apple standards, but it is real, growing, and remarkably loyal.
Clicks, Unihertz, and the New Guard
Perhaps the most visible entrant in this space is Clicks Technology, a startup that produces a snap-on physical keyboard case for the iPhone. The product, which attaches to the bottom of an iPhone via the Lightning or USB-C port, effectively transforms Apple’s flagship into something resembling a BlackBerry Bold. The device gained significant attention when it launched in early 2024, drawing endorsements from productivity enthusiasts and even some Wall Street professionals who missed the tactile feedback of real keys.
Then there’s Unihertz, a Chinese manufacturer that has made physical keyboard phones its calling card. The company’s Titan Pocket, a compact Android phone with a full QWERTY keyboard, has developed a cult following among users who prioritize typing speed and accuracy over screen real estate. Unihertz has funded multiple devices through Kickstarter campaigns, consistently exceeding its goals — a sign that demand, while niche, is fervent. As CNET noted, these companies aren’t trying to compete with the iPhone or Galaxy S series on specs or scale. They’re serving an underserved audience that the big players have ignored.
The Productivity Argument That Never Went Away
Proponents of physical keyboards have long argued that touchscreen typing is a compromise, not an improvement. Studies have shown that typists on physical keyboards tend to be faster and more accurate than those using virtual keyboards, particularly for longer-form text input. For professionals who spend significant portions of their day composing emails, messages, and documents on their phones, the difference is not trivial.
Dr. Per Ola Kristensson, a professor of interactive systems at the University of Cambridge who has studied text entry methods extensively, has noted that physical keyboards provide proprioceptive feedback — the body’s sense of where its parts are in space — that glass screens simply cannot replicate. This allows experienced typists to type without looking at the keyboard, a feat that remains difficult on touchscreens despite advances in autocorrect and predictive text. The argument resonates particularly strongly with older professionals who built their mobile habits on BlackBerry devices and never fully adapted to the touchscreen paradigm.
Security and Distraction: Unexpected Selling Points
Beyond productivity, physical keyboard phones have found unexpected appeal among users concerned about digital distraction and security. Several of the newer keyboard-equipped devices run stripped-down versions of Android or custom operating systems that deliberately limit app availability. The idea is that a phone with a keyboard and minimal apps becomes a communication tool rather than an entertainment device — a distinction that appeals to parents, students, and professionals trying to reduce screen time.
Security is another factor. Some keyboard phone manufacturers market their devices to government employees, military personnel, and corporate executives who need devices that are harder to compromise. Physical keyboards eliminate the attack surface presented by software keyboards, which can be targets for keylogger malware. While this concern may seem esoteric to average consumers, it is a genuine consideration in high-security environments. The appeal is narrow but deep, and it represents a market segment where buyers are willing to pay a premium.
The Nostalgia Factor and Its Limits
It would be dishonest to ignore the role of nostalgia in this resurgence. For a generation of professionals who came of age in the 2000s, the BlackBerry was more than a phone — it was a status symbol, a productivity tool, and a cultural artifact. The satisfying click of a BlackBerry keyboard is a sensory memory that millions of people carry, and some of them are willing to pay for products that evoke it.
But nostalgia alone doesn’t build a sustainable market. The companies succeeding in this space are the ones that combine the tactile appeal of a physical keyboard with modern specifications and software. Clicks, for example, works with the latest iPhones, giving users access to Apple’s full app library and processing power while adding the keyboard as an optional accessory. This hybrid approach — modern phone, optional physical input — may be the most commercially viable path forward. Devices that ask users to sacrifice too much in screen quality, app compatibility, or processing power in exchange for a keyboard tend to remain curiosities rather than serious contenders.
What the Big Manufacturers Are Watching
Samsung, Apple, and Google have shown no public interest in reintroducing physical keyboards to their flagship lineups, and for good reason. The mass market has spoken decisively in favor of all-screen designs, and the engineering trade-offs involved in adding a physical keyboard — reduced screen size, increased thickness, additional mechanical components that can fail — make it a hard sell for devices that need to appeal to hundreds of millions of buyers.
However, industry analysts note that the major manufacturers are watching the accessory market with interest. The success of Clicks in particular suggests that there may be a viable business in keyboard accessories that work with existing flagship phones, rather than standalone keyboard devices. This approach offloads the risk from the phone manufacturer to the accessory maker while still capturing some of the demand. It is not hard to imagine a future where Samsung or Apple licenses or acquires a keyboard accessory design if the market grows large enough to warrant attention.
A Niche With Staying Power
The physical keyboard phone market will almost certainly never return to its BlackBerry-era peak. The touchscreen won the war for the mainstream, and no amount of nostalgia or productivity arguments will change that for the vast majority of consumers. But the current resurgence suggests something more durable than a fad. The companies building these products are finding real customers with real needs that touchscreens don’t fully address — professionals who type thousands of words a day on their phones, security-conscious organizations, users seeking refuge from the addictive pull of modern smartphone design.
As CNET observed, the post-BlackBerry world hasn’t eliminated the physical keyboard — it has democratized it. Instead of one dominant manufacturer dictating what a keyboard phone should be, a diverse array of companies is experimenting with form factors, operating systems, and business models. Some will fail. But the demand they’re serving is genuine, and in a smartphone market that has grown increasingly homogeneous — where every flagship looks and functions almost identically — the physical keyboard represents one of the few remaining frontiers of meaningful differentiation. For a small but devoted group of users, the best phone isn’t the one with the biggest screen or the fastest processor. It’s the one with real buttons.