iFixit Discovers Apple’s Magic Keyboard for the iPad Pro Is More Sophisticated Than Many Laptops

iFixit Magic Keyboard xray Credit: iFixit
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While the tinkerers at iFixit haven’t (yet) gotten a chance to do their usual comprehensive teardown of Apple’s new Magic Keyboard for the iPad Pro, they’ve managed to do the next best thing to take a peek inside Apple’s revolutionary new keyboard with a more hands-off approach, thanks to the folks at Creative Electron.

Since social distancing and scheduling have prevented iFixit from actually getting their hands inside the Magic Keyboard, they called upon their colleagues with X-ray expertise to take a look inside. In fact, iFixit regularly partners with Creative Electron to do advance scans before digging into new devices just so that they can get an idea of what it is they’re up against, and while the results are usually fairly boring, in the case of the iPad Pro Magic Keyboard, the X-rays actually look really cool and tell us quite a bit about the technology that Apple has packed inside.

There is so much going on here, you might never guess that this is technically an accessory to the actual iPad Pro.

While iFixit has already taken an in-depth look at Apple’s Smart Keyboard, there’s a lot more to see in the new Magic Keyboard, which is clearly a more sophisticated device.

Scissor Switches

Right off the bat, iFixit points out the presence of scissor switches in the Magic Keyboard, which replace the butterfly switches found in the Smart Keyboard. Much like Apple’s new MacBook Pro, this is likely the single biggest practical improvment in the Magic Keyboard for the iPad Pro, as it makes an incredible difference in the typing experience, but as iFixit points out, it’s also the least complicated part of the new keyboard. After all, scissor switch keyboards have been done before.

Two large opaque metal plates where your palms normally rest help to reinforce the keyboard but also provide important counterweight at the front to keep the whole thing from tipping over backwards when the much heavier iPad Pro is mounted at the top.

The Trackpad

Perhaps not surprisingly, the trackpad in the Magic Keyboard is an entirely new design that hasn’t been seen previously, likely as a result of a need to make it thinner, smaller, and simpler than those found in Apple’s MacBooks while still providing a great trackpad experience.

For one, it appears that the “clickiness” comes from one or more physical buttons inside. This differs from MacBook trackpads that use a haptic feedback engine to simulate clicking — in much the same way that the iPhone 7 introduced a virtual home button that only feels like it’s actually being clicked.

There’s more going on inside this keyboard accessory than there is in many laptops.

Of course, there’s not a lot of room in the ultra-thin Magic Keyboard for a full haptic engine, and likely no real need for one either, but it does appear from the X-rays that Apple has included multiple buttons to make the trackpad click more evenly regardless of where you press it — an improvement over the older, pre-Force Touch MacBooks which generally felt softer when clicking near the top of the trackpad.

Hinges and Tons of Magnets

The X-rays also reveal two spring-loaded hinges at the main folding point, which clearly not only support how tightly the hinge mechanisms stay in place, but also the mechanical feel that “locks” the iPad Pro into place when fully opened. Two wires run from the USB-C port down in the main cylinder up to the Smart Connector on the rear of the case to provide for power, taking an unusually wide route that iFixit speculates is to provide more slack to prevent strain from the hinge.

What was perhaps most surprising here, however, was exactly how many tiny little magnets Apple has packed into the top/rear of the case. While you may have suspected that there were only two or three big ones, it’s actually a mass of smaller ones — over a dozen on each side. This helps to provide for a stronger magnetic hold in general, but since each magnet can be polarized differently to match the iPad Pro, it also ensures that everything lines up perfectly when you pop it against the back — which it really does.

iFixit is still planning on doing a full physical teardown as soon as it can to take a deeper look inside how this all fits together, but for now you can check out the full set of photos over at iFixit.

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