[News Terms] This Year's Released Galaxy Phones Feature 'QWERTY Keyboard'

Developed by American Christopher Sholes, Compatible with Most Countries' Languages
Samsung Electronics to Equip QWERTY Keyboards on Smartphones Released This Year Due to Gen Z's Rejection of 'Cheonjiin' Keyboard

The 'QWERTY keyboard' is the most widely used keyboard layout for English typewriters and computer keyboards. It is named 'QWERTY' after the six letters "Q, W, E, R, T, Y" arranged in order on the top left row of the keyboard. Most computer keyboards sold domestically currently use the QWERTY layout.

Christopher Sholes, a newspaper editor from Milwaukee, USA, invented this layout and patented it in 1868. The typewriter became widely popular after the patent was sold to Remington typewriters in 1873. Based on this layout, other language-specific keyboards such as the German 'QWERTZ keyboard' and the French 'AZERTY keyboard' were created.

Samsung Smart Keyboard Trio 500 in use.
[Photo by Asia Economy DB]

Later, in 1932, August Dvorak, a professor at the University of Washington in Seattle, USA, developed the 'Dvorak Simplified Keyboard,' but it has fewer users than the QWERTY keyboard. Based on this layout, the German 'Neo keyboard' and the French B?PO keyboard were developed.

Most countries, including Korea, the United States, Canada, China, Japan, India, Australia, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Denmark, and Spain, use the QWERTY keyboard adapted to their own languages. Korea uses a QWERTY keyboard combined with the two-set keyboard layout, where consonants and vowels are placed on different keys.

Samsung Electronics announced on the 12th that it has changed the default keyboard to QWERTY starting with the latest Galaxy S 24 series smartphones released this year. Samsung changed the default keyboard on its smartphones from the 'Cheonjiin' keyboard, which had been applied since the Anycall era in the 1990s, to the QWERTY keyboard after the Cheonjiin keyboard was rejected by Generation Z, who are more familiar with the QWERTY keyboard used on computers. This change in the default keyboard setting was made after about 30 years to attract Generation Z customers who have been accustomed to QWERTY keyboards on tablet PCs and laptops from a young age.

A Samsung Electronics official explained, "User surveys showed that many users found the QWERTY keyboard more familiar and easier to use," adding, "Considering convenience, we changed the default keyboard from Cheonjiin to QWERTY starting with the Galaxy S 24 series." However, Samsung decided to leave an option in the settings to switch back to the Cheonjiin keyboard as the default for users who prefer it instead of QWERTY.