diff --git a/java/res/values/attrs.xml b/java/res/values/attrs.xml
index f1253b40c..c5c632683 100644
--- a/java/res/values/attrs.xml
+++ b/java/res/values/attrs.xml
@@ -514,6 +514,8 @@
         <attr name="elementKeyboard" format="reference"/>
         <!-- Enable proximity characters correction. Disabled by default. -->
         <attr name="enableProximityCharsCorrection" format="boolean" />
+        <!-- Indicates if the keyboard layout supports being split or not. false by default -->
+        <attr name="supportsSplitLayout" format="boolean" />
     </declare-styleable>
 
     <declare-styleable name="KeyboardLayoutSet_Feature">
diff --git a/java/res/xml/keyboard_layout_set_qwerty.xml b/java/res/xml/keyboard_layout_set_qwerty.xml
index 821517081..1aa6f010a 100644
--- a/java/res/xml/keyboard_layout_set_qwerty.xml
+++ b/java/res/xml/keyboard_layout_set_qwerty.xml
@@ -23,7 +23,8 @@
     <Element
         latin:elementName="alphabet"
         latin:elementKeyboard="@xml/kbd_qwerty"
-        latin:enableProximityCharsCorrection="true" />
+        latin:enableProximityCharsCorrection="true"
+        latin:supportsSplitLayout="false" />
     <Element
         latin:elementName="symbols"
         latin:elementKeyboard="@xml/kbd_symbols" />
diff --git a/java/src/com/android/inputmethod/keyboard/KeyboardId.java b/java/src/com/android/inputmethod/keyboard/KeyboardId.java
index 538e515bc..43c61443e 100644
--- a/java/src/com/android/inputmethod/keyboard/KeyboardId.java
+++ b/java/src/com/android/inputmethod/keyboard/KeyboardId.java
@@ -73,10 +73,12 @@ public final class KeyboardId {
     public final boolean mLanguageSwitchKeyEnabled;
     public final String mCustomActionLabel;
     public final boolean mHasShortcutKey;
+    public final boolean mIsSplitLayout;
 
     private final int mHashCode;
 
-    public KeyboardId(final int elementId, final KeyboardLayoutSet.Params params) {
+    public KeyboardId(final int elementId, final KeyboardLayoutSet.Params params,
+        boolean isSplitLayout) {
         mSubtype = params.mSubtype;
         mLocale = SubtypeLocaleUtils.getSubtypeLocale(mSubtype);
         mWidth = params.mKeyboardWidth;
@@ -89,6 +91,7 @@ public final class KeyboardId {
         mCustomActionLabel = (mEditorInfo.actionLabel != null)
                 ? mEditorInfo.actionLabel.toString() : null;
         mHasShortcutKey = params.mVoiceInputKeyEnabled;
+        mIsSplitLayout = isSplitLayout;
 
         mHashCode = computeHashCode(this);
     }
@@ -108,7 +111,8 @@ public final class KeyboardId {
                 id.mCustomActionLabel,
                 id.navigateNext(),
                 id.navigatePrevious(),
-                id.mSubtype
+                id.mSubtype,
+                id.mIsSplitLayout
         });
     }
 
@@ -128,7 +132,8 @@ public final class KeyboardId {
                 && TextUtils.equals(other.mCustomActionLabel, mCustomActionLabel)
                 && other.navigateNext() == navigateNext()
                 && other.navigatePrevious() == navigatePrevious()
-                && other.mSubtype.equals(mSubtype);
+                && other.mSubtype.equals(mSubtype)
+                && other.mIsSplitLayout == mIsSplitLayout;
     }
 
     private static boolean isAlphabetKeyboard(final int elementId) {
@@ -175,7 +180,7 @@ public final class KeyboardId {
 
     @Override
     public String toString() {
-        return String.format(Locale.ROOT, "[%s %s:%s %dx%d %s %s%s%s%s%s%s%s%s]",
+        return String.format(Locale.ROOT, "[%s %s:%s %dx%d %s %s%s%s%s%s%s%s%s%s]",
                 elementIdToName(mElementId),
                 mLocale, mSubtype.getExtraValueOf(KEYBOARD_LAYOUT_SET),
                 mWidth, mHeight,
@@ -187,7 +192,8 @@ public final class KeyboardId {
                 (passwordInput() ? " passwordInput" : ""),
                 (mHasShortcutKey ? " hasShortcutKey" : ""),
                 (mLanguageSwitchKeyEnabled ? " languageSwitchKeyEnabled" : ""),
-                (isMultiLine() ? " isMultiLine" : "")
+                (isMultiLine() ? " isMultiLine" : ""),
+                (mIsSplitLayout ? " isSplitLayout" : "")
         );
     }
 
diff --git a/java/src/com/android/inputmethod/keyboard/KeyboardLayoutSet.java b/java/src/com/android/inputmethod/keyboard/KeyboardLayoutSet.java
index 3f4367313..1dbecdc81 100644
--- a/java/src/com/android/inputmethod/keyboard/KeyboardLayoutSet.java
+++ b/java/src/com/android/inputmethod/keyboard/KeyboardLayoutSet.java
@@ -96,6 +96,7 @@ public final class KeyboardLayoutSet {
     private static final class ElementParams {
         int mKeyboardXmlId;
         boolean mProximityCharsCorrectionEnabled;
+        boolean mSupportsSplitLayout;
         public ElementParams() {}
     }
 
@@ -168,7 +169,10 @@ public final class KeyboardLayoutSet {
         // attribute in a keyboard_layout_set XML file.  Also each keyboard layout XML resource is
         // specified as an elementKeyboard attribute in the file.
         // The KeyboardId is an internal key for a Keyboard object.
-        final KeyboardId id = new KeyboardId(keyboardLayoutSetElementId, mParams);
+
+        // TODO: AND mSupportsSplitLayout with the user preference that forces a split.
+        final KeyboardId id = new KeyboardId(keyboardLayoutSetElementId, mParams,
+                elementParams.mSupportsSplitLayout);
         try {
             return getKeyboard(elementParams, id);
         } catch (final RuntimeException e) {
@@ -376,6 +380,8 @@ public final class KeyboardLayoutSet {
                 elementParams.mProximityCharsCorrectionEnabled = a.getBoolean(
                         R.styleable.KeyboardLayoutSet_Element_enableProximityCharsCorrection,
                         false);
+                elementParams.mSupportsSplitLayout = a.getBoolean(
+                        R.styleable.KeyboardLayoutSet_Element_supportsSplitLayout, false);
                 mParams.mKeyboardLayoutSetElementIdToParamsMap.put(elementName, elementParams);
             } finally {
                 a.recycle();