The German Cherry has announced a new switch at the CES: the Viola. This is intended for cheaper mechanical keyboards, has a new, patented self-cleaning system and can be used without soldering hot swapping.
The Viola switch has an actuating force of just under 46 grams, up to the actuation point at 4 millimeters deep. After that, about 76 grams are needed until the bottom-out. Cherry calls this system ‘crosslinear’. How the switches sound is not yet known. They are also RGB compatible and have the standard cross-shaped trunk that fits most keycaps.
Cherry does not give them the MX name on purpose, since this switch must be substantially different from siblings such as the MX Brown, MX Blue, MX Red and so on. With these switches Cherry is aiming at the segment below 100 euros, which is not the case with the existing switches. In marketing material, it also states that it wants to compete with rubber dome keyboards, among other things.
The lower price is also reflected in the design of the Viola, which is much simpler than the MX switches. The switch is partly that simple because the electrical contacts have been moved to the pcb, which also makes the switch hot-swapping. Cherry has shown a demo unit at CES. Later in 2020, the first products with these switches should appear on the market.
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