I don’t understand the hype for smartphones with physical keyboards

When the first iPhone ditched the physical keyboard for good, revolutionizing the way people interact with their mobile devices, it surprised everyone. Although the iPhone was not the first phone with a touchscreen, it helped introduce them to the mainstream. Since then, phones have continued to evolve, relying more and more on their digital user interfaces, with devices even ditching physical home buttons in place of digital options (or gestures) just 10 years later when the iPhone

Since Steve Jobs’ introduction of that original iPhone in 2007, everything seems to be pushing us toward a more digital future, from touchscreen laptops to tablets that don’t even require a keyboard to become a productivity device. However, in recent years we have seen the resurgence of a seemingly obsolete feature: physical keyboards on smartphones. In fact, there are several phones with physical keyboards that you can buy right now, and there are even more on the way, with one company recently launching a Kickstarter for its second device.

I can’t trace exactly when the hype started, but I remember seeing a lot of excitement around the original Clicks keyboard, which Michael Fisher on YouTube revealed in 2024. The idea was novel, bringing a full-size physical keyboard to your iPhone without having to give up the screen real estate that made the device so useful. As more and more phones start showing up with these physical keyboards, I’ve realized something: I don’t feel the hype around these devices because they just take up screen space when I don’t even need a keyboard.

When I tried the Clicks keyboard, I certainly enjoyed the physical sensation of pressing the buttons, but as someone with larger fingers, getting used to the cramped button layout was extremely difficult and frustrating. Sure, the keys were nice, but I never fell in love with them. It’s very good. Not every product will work for everyone, and I accept that.

However, it made me look at the market as a whole, as more and more smartphones appear with physical keyboards. Because while Clicks has changed its design somewhat over the years and you can always remove it, the same cannot be said for smartphones designed with a physical keyboard attached. At this point, the keyboard becomes not only a selling point, but also a drawback, because I haven’t seen a single new phone with a keyboard that doesn’t sacrifice its screen real estate for the keyboard. There is also the question of repairability.

When you add a physical component like buttons on a keyboard, you add another piece to this puzzle. Smartphones have only really started to improve their repairability recently, so I wonder what effect these physical components would have on this side of the market. Moreover, with the continued growth of smartphones and the growth of the foldable products market. Just look at how Samsung has expanded its offering with the Fold 8 and Fold 8 Ultra, as well as the upcoming iPhone Fold. It seems that, at least for manufacturers, the future of smartphones is moving toward larger devices that can still fit in your pocket.

See, I think I can sum up the hype behind physical keyboards on smartphones in one word: nostalgia. This in no way means that this is the definitive reason. As I said above, I really don’t understand the hype, so that’s exactly how I tend to think about it. It makes sense, though. It is well known, both from studies and from the way people live their lives, that the past often holds great meaning for the human brain. And for this reason, people often like things that may not always make sense in the future, but worked very well in the past.

For me, physical keyboards are it. This made sense when Blackberries were one of the best smartphones money could buy. But today, in the digital future, they make a lot less sense to me. And while I can see the benefits, like the aforementioned physical sensation of pressing the keys, those benefits don’t outweigh the drawbacks for me. I prefer to have my screen. And sure, you can argue that using a numeric keypad takes up my screen real estate. You are not wrong. But you know what I can do with it? I can minimize it when I don’t need it, allowing me to reclaim the bottom third of my display. With a physical keyboard, you sacrifice that screen real estate no matter what you do.