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Clicks Bets On Physical Keyboards With CES 2026 Launch
The startup is unveiling a BlackBerry-inspired companion device and a detachable keyboard aimed at users looking to dial back smartphone overload.
Clicks Technology is pushing physical keyboards back into the spotlight with a new hardware lineup set to debut at CES 2026 in Las Vegas. The headline product, the Clicks Communicator, is a BlackBerry-inspired device designed to sit alongside an existing iPhone or Android phone, not replace it.
The pitch is straightforward: Modern smartphones are built for feeds, not focus. The Communicator narrows that scope to core communication — emails, texts, calls and voice notes — while keeping everything else out of the way. Messages sync from a primary phone, but the device itself is meant to reduce how often users feel pulled back to a glass slab.
Clicks is leaning on a behavior that is already common among professionals: carrying a second phone to separate work from personal life or to escape constant notifications. The Communicator formalizes that habit with a purpose-built companion that stays connected without demanding attention. A main smartphone is still required for it to work.
The hardware leans heavily into nostalgia: A compact touchscreen sits above a prominent physical keyboard, echoing the proportions of classic BlackBerry devices. The keyboard is touch-sensitive, allowing users to scroll without reaching for the screen, and supports voice note recording. Several features abandoned by mainstream phones also make a return, including a 3.5mm headphone jack, a physical airplane mode switch, expandable microSD storage, and support for both SIM cards and eSIMs.
Specs are firmly mid-range. The Communicator runs Android 16, carries a 50-megapixel rear camera and a 24-megapixel front camera, weighs 170 grams, and stands 131.5mm tall.
The device will retail for $499. Clicks is taking $199 reservation deposits now and offering a limited $299 early-bird price, cutting $100 off the final cost ahead of its release later in 2026. The company has not yet confirmed an exact shipping date.
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Clicks is also expanding the idea beyond a dedicated device: The newly announced Power Keyboard is a detachable physical keyboard that connects to smartphones and other screens via MagSafe or Qi2. A sliding mechanism allows it to fit different phone sizes, and it works in both portrait and landscape modes. Clicks says it can also pair with tablets, smart TVs, and AR or VR systems.
“Power Keyboard brings a consistent, confident typing experience to all your smart devices,” said Clicks president Kevin Michaluk.
The Power Keyboard is priced at Dh295 in the UAE, is available for preorder, and is expected to ship in the spring. For Clicks, the message is clear: tactile input is no longer nostalgia. It is being positioned as a counterpoint to the attention economy built into today’s smartphones.
News
Egypt’s Mobile Wallets Are Booming, But Cash Still Has Power
Egypt’s telecom regulator says $57.6 billion moved through more than 57 million wallets in six months. And one operator handled 77% of the value.
Egypt’s mobile wallets handled EGP 2.96 trillion ($57.6 billion) in transactions in the first half of 2026, according to the National Telecom Regulatory Authority – a 56% rise on the EGP 1.90 trillion ($36.9 billion) recorded a year earlier. Transactions grew faster still, up 62% to 2.22 billion, while registered wallets climbed 23% to 57.01 million.
On one reading, that is exactly what Egypt’s regulators have been pushing for: a payments system that runs through telecom-linked wallets rather than banknotes. But the same data shows how far cash still reaches into it. Cash withdrawals made up just 12% of the transactions taking money out of wallets, yet 75% of the value withdrawn or spent.
Money arrives mostly from bank accounts: transfers through InstaPay accounted for 78% of deposit transactions and 58% of the value deposited, while incoming remittances from abroad made up 3% of deposit transactions but 10% of their value. Once inside, it largely moves between wallets – wallet-to-wallet transfers accounted for 54% of all transactions and 67% of total value, with mobile and internet top-ups a distant second at 25% of volume. In effect, the wallet is serving as a transfer layer: the place money passes through between the bank account and the banknote.
That layer also runs predominantly through one operator. Vodafone Cash held 53% of registered wallets and 57% of active ones, but handled 69% of transactions and 77% of their value. Its nearest rival, e& money, held 23% of registered wallets but 14% of transaction value; Orange Cash 20% and 8%; WE Pay 4% of wallets. How many of the 57.01 million are active is not stated.
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Adoption is rather uneven in other respects. Men held 38 million wallets, or 67% of the total, against 19 million held by women. Users aged 26 to 45 accounted for half of all wallets, and Cairo alone had 10.6 million, or 19% of the national total, with Giza next at 6.5 million.
The NTRA says it is continuing to work with telecom operators on the regulatory framework for wallet services, part of a wider effort to expand electronic payments and financial inclusion. Its own figures show that effort succeeding on the way in. On the way out, three-quarters of the value still leaves as cash.
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