When Apple launched the iPhone in 2007, physical keyboards quickly lost ground to touchscreens and faded from mainstream smartphones.
Now, a new wave of startups, including U.K.-based Clicks Technology and Chinese firm Unihertz, is bringing them back and carving out a niche for phones with tactile buttons.
The shift away from buttons once seemed final. Blackberry, long known for its keyboard phones, stopped producing hardware in 2016 and shuttered its software services in 2022.
But fans of its squarish phones with its signature keyboard remain loyal to the brand. The r/Blackberry subreddit has 25,000 members who share tips and nostalgia for the devices.
The renewed interest reflects a broader pattern, said Jung Younbo, a communications professor at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.
"We tend to use our smartphones as a kind of means to express ourselves," said Younbo. As phones become more embedded in daily life, trends around them increasingly resemble cyclical fashion trends, he added.
For some users, the appeal is less about nostalgia and more about control. Clicks Technology's co-founder and Chief Marketing Officer, Jeff Gadway, said about 45% of their customer base has never used a phone with a physical keyboard.
"They look at this not as a nostalgia play, but as an entirely new way to use their phone that's more intentional," he told CNBC.
Reducing screentime
That sense of intention is part of the draw for 23-year-old content creator Chonnie Alfonso, who typically features retro gadgets on her YouTube channel.
She said switching to a keyboard device introduced friction, prompting her to rethink how often she used her phone.
Having "an extra barrier of inconvenience that adds more steps into the thinking process" as opposed to "an accessible slab of glass in your hand" has become a way for her to reduce the time she spends on her phone, Alfonso told CNBC.
Doomscrolling is less suited to square-shaped, BlackBerry-style smartphones. Alfonso said switching to a keyboard device has helped her spend less time on social media and take better control of her schedule.
Clicks Technology's Gadway said the company's device emphasizes messaging and core functions, aiming to keep users focused on their original tasks instead of drifting into other apps.
The phone, featuring messaging apps on a home launcher, is designed to ensure users do what they originally set out to do, rather than ending up on a "side quest," he said.
"It's about making the time you spend on your phone more valuable to you."
Choice vs consolidation
Beyond behavior, the devices also revive features that have largely disappeared from mainstream smartphones.
Gadway said Clicks offers keyboards in various languages, interchangeable back covers, expandable memory card storage and a physical 3.5 mm headphone jack, rather than wireless connectivity, features that modern smartphones have mostly ditched.
For Wei Lun Ng, a 23-year-old audio enthusiast, having a phone that supports wired headphones has become a practical preference.
"I think it doesn't cut out as much because when your battery is low, on like, a wireless headphone or wireless earphone, it will start cutting out ⦠[they're] more convenient," he said.
Wired headphones are also less likely to get misplaced compared to wireless earbuds, he says.
And they're cheaper. The cheapest model of Apple's AirPods, which connects using Bluetooth, is currently priced at $129, whereas their wired earpieces retail for $19.
Tactile communication
Unexpectedly, the keyboards have also attracted users with accessibility needs.
Gadway said some people with low vision or motor control challenges found it easier to type on physical keys than on touchscreens, regaining confidence in daily use.
People who make frequent typing mistakes might find physical keyboards useful, Nanyang Technological University's Younbo said.
Despite most smartphones offering auto-spelling correction, "people don't really utilize that [feature] much because it changes the word to totally different words that you don't intend to use," he said.
Competition in the niche market
The niche is growing more crowded. Companies including Zinwa Technologies and iKKO are releasing their own keyboard-equipped smartphones this year, joining Clicks and Unihertz.
For enthusiasts like Alfonso, more competition could improve product quality.
Interest in the physical keyboard phones remains strong. Unihertz' Kickstarter campaign for the second iteration of its Titan phone drew over 8,200 backers and raised more than $4.8 million as of May 8, ahead of the campaign's May 13 end date.
Clicks also exceeded its six-month pre-order target within 30 days, the company told CNBC.
Still, the segment faces challenges. Rising demand for artificial intelligence infrastructure has strained memory supply, pushing up component costs.
Unihertz recently increased the price of its Titan 2, citing higher memory costs. Clicks said it plans to hold its price steady and absorb the pressure.
For now, keyboard smartphones remain a small corner of the market. But their return suggests that even in a world of uniform glass screens, some users are still looking for something they can feel.
