Framework is building a better couch keyboard because everyone hates the Logitech one

If you have a wireless keyboard with a touchpad that lets you control your PC from across the room, chances are it’s a Logitech K400. Framework CEO Nirav Patel is betting that you hate using it — enough to buy Framework’s spin on the idea when it arrives later this year.

He says that Logitech’s keyboard is precisely the reason he’s building a new one: “It’s that Logitech keyboard that everybody owns and nobody likes,” he tells me. “Everybody’s got the same keyboard, nobody likes that keyboard, and so we figured we can build a better keyboard.”

When I heard him say this in an interview, it was a joy. That’s partly because Patel is one of the most mild-mannered tech execs I’ve ever met, someone who never criticizes a competitor in public — and partly because he’s absolutely right. My own Logitech K400, with its squishy buttons and bulky hollow plastic build, feels like a necessary evil rather than a device I actively like.

I don’t know if Framework’s version is any good, mind you. It’s based on the Framework Laptop 12’s keyboard, and my colleague Antonio gave that keyboard a “C.” But I hope to bring back impressions later today from the company’s event in San Francisco.

For now, all I know is what Patel told me. The company decided when building the Framework Desktop that no good couch keyboard / touchpads exist, it uses the same mechanical components as the Laptop 12’s inputs (just with a different dimension mousing surface), and Framework will release the control board so people can design their own wireless keyboards too.

That board uses a “highly power-efficient Nordic nRF54 radio and open source ZMK Firmware” to pair with up to four Bluetooth hosts at once, plus one USB-A dongle that fits in the back of the keyboard, and you can plug in a wired USB-C cable too. Plus, Framework is making an expansion card for its laptops (and Framework Desktop) that can hold the keyboard dongle flush, instead of having it stick out.

Patel says he’s announcing this one early so developers can start building accessories “like mounts for sim rigs.” Framework will release the external surface CAD files to give developers a head start, and the keyboard should ship later this year. We’re waiting on a price.