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Sep 16, 2023

Why iPad Magic Keyboard Is Amazing but Could Be Better

Apple's best accessory is about to get even more useful CardMapr.nl / Unsplash After five years of drifting along with almost no changes, the iPad Pro is set to get a huge update next year. And that

Apple's best accessory is about to get even more useful

CardMapr.nl / Unsplash

After five years of drifting along with almost no changes, the iPad Pro is set to get a huge update next year. And that includes the already almost-perfect Magic Keyboard.

The current iPad Pro has been around for five years in its current form, with the odd update to its system-on-a-chip, improved cameras, and—on the 12.9-inch model—an improved screen. In short, it has been left out to pasture for half a decade, with one exception. In March 2020, Apple announced the Magic Keyboard, along with an iOS update that added a brand-new mouse pointer, trackpad gestures, and more. This utterly transformed the iPad, making it a viable laptop replacement for many people. According to the rumors, Apple is about to update both the iPad and the keyboard, but how could it possibly be improved?

"While the Magic Keyboard is a well-made accessory that enhances the iPad's laptop-like functionality, there are areas for improvement. Adding a function row of keys above the number row and addressing the weight and thickness of the case would make it even better," Nikita Sherbina, co-founder and CEO of digital communication company AIScreen, told Lifewire via email.

The Magic Keyboard might be the best accessory Apple sells, period. The Apple Pencil is neat if you need to draw, but the Magic Keyboard and Trackpad transforms the iPad Pro into a different kind of device, essentially turning the tablet into a MacBook. To illustrate how radical this is, imagine being able to rip the keyboard and trackpad off a MacBook and use it as a tablet instead.

The iPad still has severe limitations in terms of software, but hardware-wise, an iPad Pro is superior to the MacBook, and even the MacBook Pro, in many ways. With a keyboard and trackpad attached, it's a laptop with full keyboard and trackpad-gesture support. With the Apple Pencil in the picture, you can draw and sign papers, and if you write in longhand, the iPad can actually read your writing and make it searchable.

Dmitry Mashkin / Unsplash

The iPad Pro also offers a cellular option—unlike any Mac—packs excellent cameras, has FaceID, and the most important part—a touch screen.

Until Apple started putting superior iPad chips into its Macs, the iPad looked like the future, with the Mac stuck in the hot, fan-cooled past. But that changed with the M1 MacBook and MacBook Pro.

"Following the company's move to in-house chips, Macs have become more durable and cost-effective. They last longer and are speedier, eliminating the need for iPads in some cases," says Apple rumormeister Mark Gurman in his Power On newsletter.

And the current MacBook Pro is exactly where we're going to look for inspiration for the next Magic Keyboard, launching in 2024.

According to Gurman's newsletter this week, the next iPad Pro will have a (slightly bigger) OLED screen and presumably a new look. And the new Magic Trackpad "makes the iPad Pro look even more like a laptop than the current setup and adds a larger trackpad."

Following the company's move to in-house chips, Macs have become more durable and cost-effective... eliminating the need for iPads in some cases.

So, how might the Magic Trackpad be improved? It's already almost perfect, with excellent keys, a typically responsive Apple-designed trackpad, and a neat hinge design that lets the iPad balance, sit higher up, and keep it safe from desktop drink spills.

Gurman mentions a bigger trackpad, which would be welcome, but that means pushing the keys back even further under the iPad, which would make it hard to add the most desperately needed change: a row of function and media keys like you get on the Mac. Right now, the volume is changed using the iPad's buttons, and adjusting the keyboard backlight levels involves menus and settings.

The current MacBook Pro added a lot of extra ports, and that's something else that the iPad lacks. Today's Magic Keyboard has a single USB-C charging port on the side, but what about adding some USB-C data ports, an SD card slot, and a headphone jack?

That would certainly make the iPad Pro "look even more like a laptop" and would act like a kind of super-useful dock. One of the shames of the ultra-powerful iPad is that if you use it with any accessories—like an audio interface, a MIDI keyboard, and some external storage, the whole lot will be hanging off the side using a tree of dongles to its one USB-C Thunderbolt port.

Ernest Ojeh / Unsplash

Another welcome addition would be a steeper screen angle. When you tip the iPad back in the keyboard case, it doesn't go far enough. You always feel like you need another inch or two. Perhaps a new design, which doesn't use the cantilevered hinge, could allow for a better screen angle while also finding room for those function keys.

"The viewing angle is also not ideal for touchscreen use, especially for visual artists," Troy Portillo, director of operations at online learning platform Studypool, told Lifewire via email.

It's an exciting piece of news. iPad Pro fans haven't felt like this in a long time.

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