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Apple’s new Magic Keyboard makes the iPad Pro feel ‘just like’ a MacBook

Apple’s new Magic Keyboard makes the iPad Pro feel ‘just like’ a MacBook

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The new Magic Keyboard has a larger trackpad, an aluminum top deck, and a function row.

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A screenshot of Apple’s new Magic Keyboard for the iPad Pro.
Image: Apple

Alongside the long-expected OLED iPad Pro, Apple has also released a lightly updated Magic Keyboard with an aluminum palm rest and a larger trackpad with haptic feedback — and finally, a function row.

The new Magic Keyboard for iPad Pro (M4) comes in two colors (black and silver) and two sizes: one for the 11-inch Pro and one for the 13-inch model. They cost $299 and $349, respectively, and like the new iPad Pro models, they are available for preorder today, shipping next week. They are not compatible with the new 11- and 13-inch iPad Air models announced today or with previous iPad Pro models. Those still use the first-gen Magic Keyboard, now called Magic Keyboard for iPad Air (M2). Rolls off the tongue!

Close-up of a keyboard with a silver-colored top deck, white keys, and a large trackpad. It has a function row and is connected to an iPad Pro.
Look at that function row!
Photo: David Pierce / The Verge

This is the first major revision of the iPad Pro’s Magic Keyboard since its launch in 2020. It keeps the cantilevered double-hinged design and single USB-C port (power only), upgrades the palm rest to aluminum from plastic, and adds a larger glass trackpad with haptic feedback. Unlike the original, it finally has a function row — a feature Apple granted the base-model iPad back in 2022 with the Magic Keyboard Folio.

Since launch, the Magic Keyboard has helped make the iPad more like a laptop, and a nicer finish and bigger trackpad don’t hurt. But to whatever extent the iPad still isn’t a laptop, that’s not really down to the keyboard, is it?


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