Keychron might be best known for its mechanical keyboards, but its latest reveal suggests the brand is eyeing complete desk domination.
Alongside a rather unusual concrete-finished keyboard prototype at CES 2026, Keychron also showed off something far more tempting: the Nape Pro, a wireless trackball designed to slot neatly into a modern keyboard setup.
The Nape Pro is clearly meant to be a companion device for Keychron’s wireless keyboards, but it doesn’t lock itself into that ecosystem.
At its core is a 25mm central trackball, surrounded by six customisable buttons, with all controls configurable through Keychron Launcher, the company’s web-based customisation tool. Two buttons act as standard mouse clicks by default, while the rest can be reassigned as needed.
Design-wise, this isn’t your typical trackball. The Nape Pro is shaped like a slim bar, allowing it to be placed either to the side of a keyboard or along the bottom edge, where it can be operated with your thumbs without lifting your hands off the keys. There’s also a rotary ring around the trackball, which looks ideal for scrolling through documents or timelines.
Keychron has added some thoughtful hardware touches, too. The Nape Pro uses Huano silent switches, similar to those found in the company’s recent mice, offering decent tactility without excessive noise. Underneath, there’s a 1/4-20 tripod mount, opening the door to angled or ergonomic mounting options usually reserved for split keyboards and niche setups.
In terms of specs, the Nape Pro runs on open-source ZMK firmware, uses a PixArt 3222 sensor, and supports up to 1kHz polling over 2.4GHz wireless. A 200mAh battery is rated for around 50 hours of continuous use, though it’s unclear whether that estimate applies to Bluetooth or the faster wireless mode.
Keychron says the Nape Pro will launch in the US around April or May. Pricing hasn’t been officially confirmed, but listings on a Japanese crowdfunding platform suggest a retail price that could land around $130 in international markets, assuming regional markups are stripped out.
Concrete keyboards aside, the Nape Pro feels like a genuinely practical idea. A compact, customisable trackball you can use without moving your hands far from the keyboard? That’s the kind of peripheral experiment we’re actually interested in seeing hit desks.
