On April 20, 2024, NuPhy posted on Weibo about the zFrontier Keyboard Expo.
This image was posted on X by a keyboard volunteer, creating a “low-profile festival.
The reason is that “the new low-profile keyswitches are compatible with Cherry MX.
Let’s dig a little deeper into this area.
Representative of GreenEchoes Studio
He launched his own media as a site operator and web writer, and now plans and manages multiple corporate media. He often types heavily in his work, and in his search for greater efficiency, he became addicted to the keyboard swamp and established “GreenKeys”.
Gateron Low Profile 3.0 compatible with Cherry MX footprint
As for NuPhy, on April 17 on Weibo, the company announced a new low-profile key switch, Gateron Low Profile 3.0, in collaboration with Gateron.
Here are the images that followed the presentation.
Note this footprint area.
The footprints of MX on the left and Gateron LP on the right.
Compared to the previous image, this is an MX-compatible footprint by all appearances.
Let’s look at some more submitted photos.
Enlarged with AI software to increase resolution.
This is a Gateron Low Profile 3.0 perfectly fitted into a Cherry MX standard hot-swap socket.
According to the information, Total Travel is 3.5mm, and the material is FullPOM.
In other words, it may mean that a trend has been created in which the Gateron LP standard is integrated into the Cherry MX standard in the future.
However, considering the consistency with the stabilizer, it is not possible to “pimp it out” by simply replacing the key switch, but a specially designed stabilizer is likely to be required.
As for the existing boards, the thickness of the “legs” placed on the bottom of the keyswitches has not been disclosed, so it may be conceivable that it may be difficult to replace them as they are.
KawamuraBy the way, the PCB that says NuPhy NOS75 is also new.
It has a sock gasket mount construction, which we believe is the same construction as the QK series of Zoom75 and QWERTYKEYS.
It also appears to be NuPhy’s first all-aluminum alloy keyboard.
Low Profile Footprint Type
Let’s look at the different types of keyswitches with reference to the keyswitch footprints published by SideraKB.
Cherry MX (normal profile)
Cherry MX LowProfile
Gateron LowProfile
Kailh Choc V1
Kailh Choc V2 / Lofree Shadow
Kailh POM Switch 2.0
(Maybe Kailh Choc V2 / Lofree Shadow is a bit different; the footprint of the switch used for Lofree Edge has not been confirmed)
Wow, there are six that I can think of, and more if you add the Alps axis, the Topre axis, the Niz EC axis, etc. to the list.
Cherry MX compatible key switches are probably the most widely distributed in the world.
It is commonly referred to as a normal profile, and many manufacturers offer compatible key switches.
The problem is that the footprint of the “low profile key switch”, which is shorter than the normal Cherry MX standard, is not standardized = there are multiple footprints.
This is a particularly vexing area for designers, and I can imagine that coming up with footprints to accommodate multiple key switches is a very tedious task due to wiring convenience.
If all of these are unified into the “Cherry MX standard,” then many of the most common keyboards in the world today will be able to be “low-profile” as they are.
Recently, Kailh Choc V1/Kailh Choc V2, which had been a problem in terms of quietness and sleekness, have been released as ” Lowprokb.ca Ambients Silent Choc Switches ” and “Lofree Shadow” series, respectively, and the “Low Profile Momentum” is now growing again. Low-profile momentum” is now in the midst of growing again.
We can’t wait to see what the market will do now that the Cherry MX compatible Gateron Low Profile 3.0 will be released here.
I’m keeping an increasingly close eye on the low-profile area.
