Keychron's new Q Ultra and V Ultra mechanical keyboards promise 660 hours of battery life and smooth new switches

The Keychron Q Ultra mechanical keyboards offer all the same wireless connectivity and customisation option via Keychron Launcher as the older Max-series keyboards, but a switch to ZMK firmware, known for its extreme efficiency — often leading to it being used on lightweight split ergonomic keyboards — will apparently lead to an impressive 660-hour battery life. Keychron has not yet published exact battery capacities for the new keyboards, but it has revealed that the first keyboards to join the Q Ultra line-up will be the Q1 Ultra, Q3 Ultra, and Q6 Ultra, each with a different layout but sharing the same gasket mount design and internal structure and general specifications. 

The Keychron Q6 Ultra is a full-size wireless mechanical keyboard, meaning it will have a num pad with a full navigation cluster and a full-size zero key, as well as a row of macro keys above the num pad and a customisable knob in the F row. The Q3 steps things down with a TKL layout, eliminating the num pad but keeping the arrow and navigation clusters and the customisable knob. The Q1 Ultra once again shrinks the layout to just 75%, keeping the arrow cluster and the knob but losing some of the navigation keys and reducing the space between the alphanumeric cluster and the arrow cluster. 

All three of the new Q Ultra keyboards will have a CNC-cut aluminium chassis with a gasket mount, internal case foams, and a redesigned CNC aluminium knob — this looks to be a similar, but not identical design to the knob on the Keychron Q1 HE 8K we recently reviewed — as well as the classic retro-inspired Keychron KSA keycaps, which are double-shot PBT, which we really enjoyed in our testing of the Keychron Q13 Max. The Q Ultra keyboards will have 8K polling rate, which will honestly likely go unnoticed even by gamers, but seems to be becoming the new standard for input these days. In terms of connectivity, the Q Ultra keyboards will all feature 2.4 GHz and Bluetooth wireless connections, as well as USB Type-C wired connectivity. 

The Keychron Q Ultra mechanical keyboards will be available on Keychron's online store, with the Q1 Ultra and Q3 Ultra coming in at $229.99, while the Q6 Ultra will cost $239.99. 

The Keychron V5 Ultra take most of the advancements found in the Q Ultra keyboards and combine them with a slightly more affordable chassis and keycaps. The new V Ultra series keyboards come in the V1 Ultra, which has the same 75%  layout as the Q1 Ultra, the V3 Ultra, following the Q3 Ultra, and the V5 Ultra, which uses an 1800 layout as opposed to the full-size Q6 Ultra. The V5 Ultra still delivers a num pad and a customisable knob, but it also opts for a 1u zero key and only includes some of the navigation keys on top of the num pad instead of between the num pad and the navigation cluster. This layout is somewhat similar to the layout of the Epomaker Galaxy 100 we reviewed prior, but it shrinks the layout even further to allow for more mouse space. 

There are other subtle differences between the V Ultra and Q Ultra series that both set the keyboards apart and might make the V1, V3, or V5 Ultra a better pick for you. For starters, the V Ultra series uses Keychron's OSA keycap profile — although it keeps the double-shot PBT composition — meaning the keycaps feel more similar to something like Cherry or OEM profile than the KSA keycaps, which might take some getting used to. The plastic case will also make the V Ultra keyboards lighter and more convenient for on-the-go use.

The Keychron V1 Ultra, V3 Ultra, and V5 Ultra wireless mechanical keyboards will launch in late January, although Keychron has yet to confirm an exact launch date. The V Ultra wireless mechanical keyboards will be available in black and white, both featuring minimalist design language with red accent keycaps on the escape key. The V1 Ultra and V3 Ultra will cost $114.99, while the V5 Ultra will cost $119.99. 

Along with the flashy new mechanical keyboards, Keychron is officially releasing its new Silk POM switches, which feature an all-POM design, which is a material that has become increasingly popular with mechanical keyboard enthusiasts recently. POM, or polyoxmethylene, also commonly known as Delrin, has a low coefficient of friction, which results in exceedingly smooth key strokes in general. 

Keychron is offering all of the new Q Ultra and V Ultra keyboards with Silk POM linear and tactile switches, effectively matching the previous Keychron Red, Brown, and Banana options.