Whereas at the moment’s best phones are all glass touchscreens ripe for swiping, when nostalgia hits, all we wish to do is get our fingers click-clacking on a BlackBerry’s tactile keyboard. Although BlackBerry discontinued its cellular line in 2016, phones with physical keyboards are making a comeback.
At Mobile World Congress 2026, CNET Cellular Managing Editor David Lumb received his palms on the Titan 2 Elite, an Android smartphone made by Chinese language smartphone producer Unihertz. It encompasses a full backlit QWERTY keyboard that matches proper in your pocket. On Tuesday, each the usual model and the Professional launched on Kickstarter, and have already exceeded the corporate’s $100,000 objective.
On the time of writing, over $2.1 million has been pledged by over 4,500 backers.
The Titan 2 Elite allows you to customise its A-Z keyboard keys to create short- and long-press shortcuts that take you to totally different apps and help with textual content modifying. You possibly can even use the keyboard to scroll and transfer your mouse, an improve from BlackBerry’s trackball. As for the pink programmable aspect button, it will possibly launch any app with one press.
The Titan 2 Elite packs a keyboard and a 4-inch display into a contemporary Android cellphone — BlackBerry followers, begin your engines.
To get your palms on an orange or black Titan 2 Elite, which is estimated to ship in June 2026, you must pledge $396. That is discounted from the complete value of $489 and is not less than $403 cheaper than the iPhone 17. Transport to the US is an additional $10.
For the Titan 2 Elite Professional, you must pledge $486, plus delivery. Its full value is $579. The estimated supply time is October 2026.
For each the usual and Professional telephones, packages can be found for {couples}, households (three units), pals (5 units) and wholesale purchasers (10 units).
The telephones are presently within the strategy of being licensed by Google, the FCC, the Conformité Européenne for EU Compliance, UK Conformity Assessed and Japan Approvals Institute for Telecommunications Tools. These certifications are anticipated to be obtained by April, earlier than trial and mass manufacturing happen in Might.
The Titan 2 Elite has two 50-megapixel rear cameras and a 32-megapixel front-facing digicam.
The Elite vs. the Elite Professional
The Elite and Elite Professional differ solely in energy and storage. The usual Elite comes with a MediaTek Dimensity 7400 chip, whereas the Professional provides a Dimensity 8400. For storage, you get 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage with the usual, and 12GB of RAM and 512GB of storage with the Professional.
Regardless of rising costs within the reminiscence market brought on by AI-driven demand, Unihertz determined to stay with 12GB of RAM. The corporate says that this is the reason the Titan 2 Elite prices greater than earlier Unihertz units launched on Kickstarter.
Each the usual and Professional variations have a 4.03-inch AMOLED display, a 50-megapixel rear digicam, a 32-megapixel selfie digicam, a 4,050-mAh battery, dual-band GPS, fingerprint and face unlocking, Bluetooth 6.0, world 5G protection and assist for 2 bodily SIM playing cards and an eSIM. You possibly can even swap considered one of your SIMs for a microSD card, providing you with 2TB of additional storage.
Each the Elite and Elite Professional will ship with Android 16 OS, for which Unihertz will give 5 years of replace assist and safety patches till 2031.
