Shanghai-based Unihertz has made a name for itself in recent years with its varied lineup of rugged phones, tiny phones, and BlackBerry-style handsets with full physical keyboards.

The brand’s latest offering is a more premium phone for typing enthusiasts. The Titan 2 Elite features a pleasing design with rounded corners, and plenty of upgrades inside and out over its squarish predecessor from last year.

First shown off at MWC 2026 earlier this month, the Elite turned heads with its vibrant anodized orange finish (you can also get it in black) on an injection-molded aluminum frame. Unihertz says it’s put the chassis through numerous processes to achieve an exquisite feel and comfortable grip in your hand.

This model gets Android 16 (with five years of updates promised), and comes with either a mid-range Dimensity 7400 2.6-GHz octa-core chipset (the same one in Motorola’s Razr 60 and Edge 60), or a faster Dimensity 8400 3.2 GHz. These variants are paired with 256 GB and 512 GB of internal storage respectively.

Both versions get 12 GB of RAM, dual 50-megapixel rear cameras (the second one is a telephoto), a 32-megapixel front cam, and a 4-inch AMOLED display. The screen represents a significant bump up from the older Titan 2’s LCD; it’s got a 120-Hz refresh rate and hits a peak brightness of 1,600 nits, so it should be fairly legible outdoors during the day.

Unihertz

The device is powered by a rather diminutive 4,050-mAh silicon-carbon battery that supports 33-W charging. That’s not huge, but I imagine the smaller-than-usual display might allow for decent battery life.

As with previous models, the keyboard is the star of the show, and the main reason for considering a Titan. Beyond offering backlit tactile A-Z keys, it also supports customizable short-press and long-press shortcuts, and you can swipe and scroll on it like a trackpad to navigate on-screen content and move a cursor across text. Unihertz says it’ll offer QWERTZ and AZERTY layouts later on.

Unihertz

As if that wasn’t enough, there’s an extra physical button that you can program to launch any app, fire up an AI assistant, or bring up the camera or flashlight instantly.

The Elite has room for either two nano SIMs, or one SIM and a microSD card for expanding storage. It also supports an eSIM, which makes this pretty flexible for international travelers.

Unihertz is crowdfunding the Elite on Kickstarter, where the base model is listed at US$397 (down from its expected retail price of $489); the quicker Pro variant is available at $479 (down from $579). The box includes a charger, case, and screen protector to sweeten the deal.

Unihertz

While you might be able to snap up a candybar phone with similar specs for less, the Elite’s trump card is its multifunctional keyboard that should appeal to people who spend a lot of time typing and getting work done on their devices.

All crowdfunding campaigns carry an element of risk, so you’ll want to keep that in mind if you choose to back this campaign. For what it’s worth, Unihertz has previously launched and shipped 11 other phones on Kickstarter. It’s also racked up more than $2.2 million in pledges for this one from nearly 5,000 backers.

If all goes to plan, orders are slated to ship to select countries across North America, Europe, Australia, and Asia; the base Elite will begin rolling out in June, while the Elite Pro is scheduled for October.

Source: Kickstarter