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 will not be flying off the cabinets resulting from its absurd $3,500 pricetag, however firms 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. Think about 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 at present if European rules hadn’t pressured Apple’s hand. Whenever 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, but it surely’s arguably one of many worst equipment Apple retains in circulation. It is not even laborious 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 selections 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 extensively thought of to be one of many weirdest and least logical design selections ever made. If its inside battery runs dry, there’s merely no manner to make use of the mouse whereas it recharges. At finest, it is an pointless inconvenience, on condition 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 of your job until you’ve got obtained a trackpad or secondary mouse as a fallback. It is no surprise plenty 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 firms ought to take heed to buyer suggestions.

The apparent design repair can be to change to a back-facing port, however since Apple loves making every little thing wi-fi, an alternate can be to embrace that philosophy by supporting wi-fi charging. Corporations like Razer and Logitech are already placing out mice with appropriate charging mats — Apple’s simply late to the occasion. Heck, I would like to see a mat that doubles as a USB-C/Thunderbolt hub, although that may most likely enhance the associated fee to finish customers.

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Repair ergonomics whilst 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 benefit from contact gestures. There is a purpose most mice maintain a bulbous form — it is an acknowledgment of anatomy, not outdated aesthetics, or a have to pack in a ton of electronics. You may 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 purpose the mouse is (comparatively) flat is to assist these contact gestures, however there must be a extra human-friendly method. Maybe Apple may transfer contact gestures to the aspect of the system, or make the shell bulbous solely the place your palm rests.

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

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Assume 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 you need to go looking for 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 identical value, you may get Logitech’s MX Grasp 3S, which is taken into account a gold normal within the business. It has a number of scroll wheels, an ideal 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 manner while you’re utilizing it, however solely as a result of it is meant to be a seamless bridge between you and your pc. That truly interprets into plenty of work on the producer’s finish, contemplating how individuals really use their units, and tailoring each final component to match. It is why bargain-basement mice are so horrible. You possibly can’t do every little thing you need, the way in which you need, and their flimsy shells are a continuing bodily reminder of that.

Will Apple be taught its lesson and ship us a brand new, absolutely redesigned mouse in some unspecified time in the future? Maybe. It is at the least prone to keep within the sport, since it could be unusual for Apple to promote Mac desktops with out a vital manner of controlling them. However there’s additionally the likelihood it will admit defeat and go away 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 available on the market, and few individuals appear to thoughts lately.

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