How Apple might repair its terrible Magic Mouse

Apple likes to place itself as a daring and modern 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 attributable to its absurd $3,500 pricetag, however corporations like Meta and Bigscreen are nonetheless adapting their very own VR headsets to really feel extra like Apple’s.

At different instances, the corporate stubbornly clings to merchandise and concepts that everybody else acknowledges as horrible. Contemplate Lightning, which it refused to jettison on iPhones till lengthy after different telephone makers had switched to USB-C. We might in all probability be seeing Lightning on some merchandise at the moment if European rules hadn’t pressured Apple’s hand. Once you’ve been regulated into utilizing higher requirements, one thing’s flawed.

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 onerous to think about how Apple might 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 individuals know in regards to 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-about to be one of many weirdest and least logical design decisions ever made. If its inner battery runs dry, there’s merely no approach to make use of the mouse whereas it recharges. At greatest, it is an pointless inconvenience, provided that different wired mice put their USB ports on the again, the place they belong. At worst, it might really stop you from doing all of your job except you have bought a trackpad or secondary mouse as a fallback. It is no surprise lots of Mac homeowners go straight for third-party mice.

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

The apparent design repair can be to modify to a back-facing port, however since Apple loves making the whole lot wi-fi, an alternate can be to embrace that philosophy by supporting wi-fi charging. Firms like Razer and Logitech are already placing out mice with appropriate charging mats — Apple’s simply late to the get together. Heck, I might like to see a mat that doubles as a USB-C/Thunderbolt hub, although that will in all probability improve the price 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 slim 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 wish to reap the benefits 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 might construct a mouse with the size of 1 / 4 if you did not have to grip it with a human hand.

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

Personally, I might somewhat 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 get rid of mechanical controls wherever contact is a chance.

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Suppose totally different, suppose 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 attempting to find it when 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 value, you may get Logitech’s MX Grasp 3S, which is taken into account a gold customary within the trade. It has a number of scroll wheels, an excellent really feel, and even serves as a superb 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 lots of work on the producer’s finish, contemplating how individuals really use their gadgets, and tailoring each final ingredient to match. It is why bargain-basement mice are so horrible. You’ll be able to’t do the whole lot 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 no less than more likely to keep within the recreation, since it could 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 spite of everything — it has been years since an AirPort product was in the marketplace, and few individuals appear to thoughts lately.

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