I don't think that's a core part of the minimalism. It's about the overall aims (less interruption etc) and their Minimal OS (based on Android) and the fairly simple launcher.

I read that as "minimum standard", not "minimal" as in "not possible to make it have anything less". People need a keyboard and the screen keyboard on iPhones today isn't pleasant, at least for me. I'm not saying that this keyboard will be better, it may suck even worse, but the lack of a good keyboard experience is the main reason I don't do much with my phone other than order Ubers when I'm on vacation.