How Apple may repair its terrible Magic Mouse

Apple likes to place itself as a daring and revolutionary firm, and typically, that is true. Even within the post-Jobs period, we have seen merchandise just like the Apple Watch and the Vision Pro wield an outsized affect. The Imaginative and prescient Professional is probably not flying off the cabinets as a consequence of its absurd $3,500 pricetag, however firms like Meta and Bigscreen are however adapting their very own VR headsets to really feel extra like Apple’s.

At different occasions, the corporate stubbornly clings to merchandise and concepts that everybody else acknowledges as horrible. Take into account Lightning, which it refused to jettison on iPhones till lengthy after different cellphone makers had switched to USB-C. We might most likely be seeing Lightning on some merchandise immediately if European laws hadn’t compelled Apple’s hand. If you’ve been regulated into utilizing higher requirements, one thing’s unsuitable.

The Magic Mouse is one other instance of this angle. It has its followers, nevertheless it’s arguably one of many worst equipment Apple retains in circulation. It isn’t even arduous to think about how Apple may repair the product.

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Repair charging by making it wi-fi

Undoing one of many strangest design choices in historical past

Apple

If there’s one factor folks know concerning the Magic Mouse, no matter whether or not they personal one, it is that its charging port is on the underside — one thing broadly thought of to be one of many weirdest and least logical design decisions ever made. If its inside battery runs dry, there’s merely no approach to make use of the mouse whereas it recharges. At finest, it is an pointless inconvenience, provided that different wired mice put their USB ports on the again, the place they belong. At worst, it may really forestall you from doing all your job except you’ve got bought a trackpad or secondary mouse as a fallback. It is no marvel plenty of Mac house owners go straight for third-party mice.

Much more baffling is that Apple switched the product from Lightning to USB-C in 2024… and stored the charging port the place it was, regardless of loads of public criticism as much as that time. It is Exhibit A for why firms ought to hearken to buyer suggestions.

The apparent design repair could be to modify to a back-facing port, however since Apple loves making every thing wi-fi, an alternate could be to embrace that philosophy by supporting wi-fi charging. Firms like Razer and Logitech are already placing out mice with suitable charging mats — Apple’s simply late to the social gathering. Heck, I might like to see a mat that doubles as a USB-C/Thunderbolt hub, although that will most likely enhance the fee to finish customers.

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Repair ergonomics when you’re at it

Contact gestures are meaningless with out consolation

Earlier than I even realized about its charging port, I found that the Magic Mouse is uncomfortable to carry. It is too slender for me, and since it is so flat and skinny, nearly everybody has to carry their hand in an unsupported arch, particularly in the event that they need to make the most of contact gestures. There is a motive most mice hold a bulbous form — it is an acknowledgment of anatomy, not outdated aesthetics, or a have to pack in a ton of electronics. You would construct a mouse with the size of 1 / 4 if you did not have to grip it with a human hand.

Now clearly, the principle motive the mouse is (comparatively) flat is to help these contact gestures, however there needs to be a extra human-friendly strategy. Maybe Apple may transfer contact gestures to the facet of the machine, or make the shell bulbous solely the place your palm rests.

Personally, I might reasonably Apple exchange contact gestures with scroll wheels, however the firm appears to hate buttons and wheels virtually as a lot because it does ports. There are exceptions — we have really bought new buttons and wheels on the iPhone 16 and Apple Watch Extremely — however as a rule, Apple prefers to eradicate mechanical controls wherever contact is a chance.

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Assume completely different, assume efficiency

What’s a mouse for?

A part of the issue is that Apple treats the Magic Mouse as an afterthought. It is bundled with iMacs, however nothing else, and it’s a must to go trying to find it in case you store on the firm’s on-line or brick-and-mortar shops. At $99, it is also overpriced for its specs. For across the similar price, you will get Logitech’s MX Grasp 3S, which is taken into account a gold customary within the business. It has a number of scroll wheels, an incredible really feel, and even serves as a wonderful gaming mouse, with sensitivity settings starting from 200 to eight,000dpi. I discover something over 2,000 to be overkill — however the Magic Mouse is believed to be capped at 1,300, and does not even present you what DPI you are at when adjusting settings.

A mouse ought to by no means be handled as a minor accent. It ought to really feel that approach once you’re utilizing it, however solely as a result of it is meant to be a seamless bridge between you and your laptop. That truly interprets into plenty of work on the producer’s finish, contemplating how folks really use their units, and tailoring each final component to match. It is why bargain-basement mice are so horrible. You may’t do every thing you need, the way in which you need, and their flimsy shells are a relentless bodily reminder of that.

Will Apple study its lesson and ship us a brand new, absolutely redesigned mouse sooner or later? Maybe. It is a minimum of prone to keep within the recreation, since it will be unusual for Apple to promote Mac desktops with out a vital approach of controlling them. However there’s additionally the likelihood it’s going to admit defeat and depart mice to different events that care extra. That is precisely what it did with Wi-Fi routers, in any case — it has been years since an AirPort product was in the marketplace, and few folks appear to thoughts lately.

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