When the Q6 Ultra 8K and V1 Ultra 8K emerged, it was clear that Keychron would be releasing new switches and new wireless mechanical keyboards, but Keychron confirmed in its response to Notebookcheck that the new Milk POM switches, and that the new keyboards are currently exclusive to Best Buy. However, the plan is to launch the Q6 Ultra 8K and V1 Ultra 8K — as part of the “Q Ultra 8K and V Ultra 8K series” — on Keychron’s web store in early 2026. 

Aside from the visual changes that are to come, Keychron confirmed that the firmware for the new full-size mechanical keyboard and its Q and V Ultra siblings will be based on ZMK. Although this may not be obvious to most users, especially if they use Keychron Launcher for customisation, it may have implications for longevity and battery life. At the time of writing, however, neither Keychron nor Best Buy have provided any battery life estimates for the new full-size mechanical keyboard or the 75% version. 

ZMK is often considered an alternative to QMK specifically designed for wireless mechanical keyboards, making it usually far more efficient than QMK, which is what most current Keychron mechanical keyboards are based on. Case-in-point, the Keychron B2 Pro, which uses ZMK firmware, is estimated to provide 300 hours of use from an 800 mAh battery. Meanwhile, the QMK-powered Keychron Q1 Max (curr. $229.99 on Amazon), which has a 4,000 mAh battery, is only estimated to get around 100 hours of battery life with the backlighting disabled. Of course, this is not an apples-to-apples comparison, but the gap in efficiency is obvious, and it points to massive battery life improvements over the Q Max keyboards.