Originally known by its unofficial code name "Mercury",[1] the KEYone was officially announced at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona on February 25, 2017.

TCL executives termed the KeyOne as a success, mentioning 850,000 units being sold.

Its case is made of a silver aluminum frame, with a black rubbery grip in the back.

[5] The phone also features a fully touch-enabled integrated hardware keyboard which responds to swipe gestures and doubles as a trackpad, a fingerprint scanner located in the spacebar, and keyboard shortcuts to speed up the launching of apps and features.

[11] The phone can shoot pictures in 3:2 by default (the screen's ratio) or in the standard 4:3.

On November 16, 2017, BB Merah Putih announced that BlackBerry KeyOne will be joining their[whose?]

The device, like the Indian model, will be branded under the Limited Edition Black title.