I’ve never used my iPads as a substitute for a laptop or desktop, so the very idea of buying a keyboard for my iPads was never a consideration.
I can imagine Apple merging the two lines in the future, though I can also imagine them building a headless laptop that uses the iPad as the screen. Sidecar works great to convert an iPad into an extended screen when I need to make use of the Apple Pencil.
The new MacBook Air M1 with an iPad companion makes a great pair.
Annoying? Yes. A bit of a D*** move by Apple? Yes. Surprising? If you've been paying attention it shouldn't be. Seriously when have you EVER been able to move a case from one device onto the next generation? There are exceptions, but they are so few and special as to prove the rule: If you update your device, Pad, Phone, MacBook, plan on new accessories. I'm going to be getting a new iPad Pro to replace my old one and yes I'll have to get a new case, new keyboard, and new Apple Pencil to go along with it. That's life. One of the reason's I wouldn't consider the Magic Keyboard is the cost. It's great but I'm not going to spend that much money for an accessory that I assume would only be good for one model.
Just sell the keyboard along with your old iPad Pro.
You mean "just lose more money"? Can't sell my MK for what I paid, so I lose money there. Then have to buy the new MK at full price.
It's bad enough paying the ridiculous prices for the iPad Pro.
I disagree. There are many instances where add-on hardware doesn’t work well or at all with the next version of something. Take cars for example, you get the accessories that fit that year and model, you don’t take it out when you want to sell it to use in the following year’s model. When RAM and storage was upgradable in Mac you might be able to take it to the next one, but you might not.
I’m sure you got use out of your iPad Pro and keyboard, wrote articles or whatever to generate money, so I can hardly agree that you are losing money. No one is forcing anyone to upgrade to the latest iPad Pro. I’m sure your device will work just fine tomorrow as it does today. I’m still using an iPad mini 2 and a MacBook Pro retina 2014. They’re old, but still work.
Sorry you feel burned but don’t assume that others feel the same way. Like someone else said they is most likely an engineering reason why they are not compatible. I am quite certain that an iPad Pro with the keyboard will sell much better and higher premium than one without. Or do what many do, use your device longer until you have the money to get the new ones.
But I never expect being able to install my add-on’s on my next device if the do, bonus, but don’t expect commoditized components from a premium product. Pro means getting the best and leaving behind the rest, including keyboards from older models.
Are you confusing me with the author of this article?
I merely was pointing out that selling the 1 year old MK would incur additional loss (which is entirely true as no one would buy a used MK at full price) and you've generated an entire profile about me, which is actually quite inaccurate. The fact is, you know nothing about me, what I do, or how I feel. Hint: I have no plans to buy the new iPad Pro.
This actually saves me money since I was about to pick up a Magic Keyboard to go with the Air I purchased last fall. I’ve already decided to upgrade to 11 inch Pro once that gets the miniLED treatment, and now that I know the Keyboard won’t work with that, I can save a few hundo by waiting till then.
Incidentally, I tried to check out the trade in value for the iPad Air 4, and Apple doesn’t even offer it as an option. Lol, where’s the outrage over that?
A whole lot of chest thumping, shirt tearing, soap box standing going on here.
Before throwing out your magic keyboards circa 2018 can you all wait and see when the new iPad Pro comes out?
Unless Apple has intentionally displaced the 3 pins on the back of the iPad Pro 12.9, I don’t see why it still won’t attach and you still won’t be able to type on the older keyboard.
Chances are you won’t be able to fully close it and automatically put your iPad to sleep. That’s it. Typing with it should not be a problem unless someone can confirm that Apple will intentionally disable keyboard functions inside the OS.
I am thoroughly bemused by the histrionics of the blogger (and by easy extension, myriad techie bois) who are staring at their current iPad Pro and Magic Keyboard right now and channeling their inner Lisa Simpson as they cry out, "it's utterly, utterly hopeless!"
Now do remind us how much you claim that Apple products keep a higher value over years as you, essentially, declare your current setup as an obsolete mess that you just cannot use anymore.
Unfortunately decisions like this are causing Apple to burn through goodwill and loyalty built up over many many years. Over the 25 years I've been using Macs they built up quite a bit, but mine is dangerously close to empty. Several friends have run out and abandoned Apple entirely. Cook forgets that without the loyal Apple customers that stuck with them in the '90's before he was on the scene, Apple wouldn't be here now. At the hands of Cook Apple is becoming typical of the big, lethargic profit rather than customer focussed companies we used to ridicule on these very forums.
It wouldn't be so bad if the thing wasn't so overpriced; I remember Jobs announcing the price of the original iPad to cheers from the audience, for less than the keyboard alone is now. Contrast that too with the dissatisfied mumblings at WWDC when they introduced the $1000 monitor stand. Cook is desperate to keep raising profit by any means, even if that includes shafting loyal customers. That is a terrible long-term strategy, it will come back to bite them in the ass.
In years past I used to be first in line for Apple's new devices, saving up beforehand to afford them. But now despite being able to afford them much more easily, I don't even consider a lot of them because they're just a ripoff.
A whole lot of chest thumping, shirt tearing, soap box standing going on here.
Before throwing out your magic keyboards circa 2018 can you all wait and see when the new iPad Pro comes out?
Unless Apple has intentionally displaced the 3 pins on the back of the iPad Pro 12.9, I don’t see why it still won’t attach and you still won’t be able to type on the older keyboard.
Chances are you won’t be able to fully close it and automatically put your iPad to sleep. That’s it. Typing with it should not be a problem unless someone can confirm that Apple will intentionally disable keyboard functions inside the OS.
Actually, the magic keyboard came out right around this time last year but works with the 2018 and 2020 iPad Pro.
Unfortunately decisions like this are causing Apple to burn through goodwill and loyalty built up over many many years. Over the 25 years I've been using Macs they built up quite a bit, but mine is dangerously close to empty. Several friends have run out and abandoned Apple entirely. Cook forgets that without the loyal Apple customers that stuck with them in the '90's before he was on the scene, Apple wouldn't be here now. At the hands of Cook Apple is becoming typical of the big, lethargic profit rather than customer focussed companies we used to ridicule on these very forums.
It wouldn't be so bad if the thing wasn't so overpriced; I remember Jobs announcing the price of the original iPad to cheers from the audience, for less than the keyboard alone is now.
Slightly inaccurate statement you’ve made there. The original iPad started at $499 WiFi only with 16GB of storage.
A fundamental principle in retail is selling accessories and add ons. Sometimes the add ons generate more profit than the original product.
It’s probably easier to get $1500 from somebody in small chunks over time than all at once.
The cost of all the parts may be as much or more than buying something far better (iPad plus accessories vs. MacBook Pro, for example) all at once. That’s ok by me.
But as with the return of the Apple Silicon Developer Transition Kits earlier this year, where Apple shortsightedly planned to nickle-and-dime its loyal developer community, this move is a mistake.
In the case of the Apple Silicon DTK, Apple made it right and gave developers $500 promo codes to use at its online store.
Revisionist history.
People paid $500 knowing that it was for a temporary loaner to get them a head start developing for ASi Macs. Apple originally offered a partial refund to make sure people actually sent them back as they were required to by the agreement. Entitled whiners got Apple to cough up more money.
Good luck with this campaign to do the same here. It will be a sign of whether Apple is changing its attitude.
Personally I would think by now that people would understand that Apple does not put a huge emphasis on backwards compatibility and that there is a caveat emptor issue with being an early adopter of any new Apple product. It's one of the "quirks" of Apple and it's worked for them for a couple decades.
Not having the new iPad Pro with the old Magic Keyboard in hand, how the heck do you know that there’s any “Burn”ing going on. Maybe it’s the case but this is pure speculation on your part and I see no “Opinion” in the headline and walking back your initial statement with “To be fair” is insufficient.
Not the first time something like this happens. I remember buying an iPad 3 on launch day only for the iPad 4 with Retina display launching a few months later.
No-one offered me a trade in.
Yeah, we get that nonsense from users all the time. Apple is supposed to contact them directly and tell them to hold off buying the current model because the new model will be coming out soon.
If you put the emotional reactions aside, i.e., don't let yourself feel the "burn," and look at the new iPad Pro from a cost-vs-benefit standpoint versus sticking with either one of the two previous Pro versions you will also see that Apple is also setting itself for experiencing some "burn" too. Anyone doing the cost-vs-benefit calculus now has to add $350 to the cost column if having the Smart Keyboard is required to achieve their maximum benefit.
This added cost may very well lead some folks who are looking at this from a logical standpoint rather than emotional one to skip this version of the iPad Pro entirely or wait long enough to extract more value from their current iPad Pro before upgrading. That will result in less money flowing into Apple's coffers. Of course the salvage/resale value of their current iPad Pro has to be factored into the calculus and it too has a time based depreciation.
There is no one size fits all solution to deciding whether to upgrade or not to the new iPad Pro. Despite what you want to believe, emotions will come into play. I don't say that in a negative way, because it's really a big deal. In this case it's an even bigger deal because we're all just learning about this product and there are a lot of questions about its true benefits. Questions like:
1) What problem will having an M1 in an iPad Pro truly help me solve and put (or leave) more money in my pocket? 2) Is this product truly reaching its full potential with iPadOS or is it needless overkill? 3) Will this first generation product have a shorter shelf life like many Apple first-gen products do? E.g., how much better will 2nd release be? 4) How much better/faster/more effective is this iPad Pro compared to previous versions when doing real work?
Nobody gets "everything" right on the first try.We don't yet know where the shortcomings of the new iPad Pro are hiding, as of today, and still have some learning curve ahead of us. Well, we think we've learned that if we were planning to carry the previous version of the Magic Keyboard forward we were wrong.
In summary, I think the picture will get clearer once these iPad Pros start landing in people's hands and the benefit side of the equation is better known. Perhaps the added cost of the keyboard will seem like less of an issue at some point when the benefits start weighing in.
Not the first time something like this happens. I remember buying an iPad 3 on launch day only for the iPad 4 with Retina display launching a few months later.
No-one offered me a trade in.
That was one of the few times in my life of Apple products where I really had a sour taste in my mouth.
The iPad 3 was shockingly slow with future iOS updates, it just wasn’t powerful enough to drive the Retina display and ended up an expensive paperweight far before it should have.
I’ve not bought an iPad since.
Considering we have £12,000 ($16,500) worth of Apple products in our household the iPad is conspicuous by its absence.
Not the first time something like this happens. I remember buying an iPad 3 on launch day only for the iPad 4 with Retina display launching a few months later.
No-one offered me a trade in.
The iPad 3 was shockingly slow with future iOS updates, it just wasn’t powerful enough to drive the Retina display and ended up an expensive paperweight far before it should have.
I’ve not bought an iPad since.
That’s a hell of a long time to hold onto a grudge
Seems like the person with the itch to replace a year-old iPad Pro and the money to burn for that quick of an upgrade isn’t likely to get bent out of shape over upgrading the keyboard, too. Not sure what all the angst is about.
Not the first time something like this happens. I remember buying an iPad 3 on launch day only for the iPad 4 with Retina display launching a few months later.
No-one offered me a trade in.
The iPad 3 was shockingly slow with future iOS updates, it just wasn’t powerful enough to drive the Retina display and ended up an expensive paperweight far before it should have.
I’ve not bought an iPad since.
That’s a hell of a long time to hold onto a grudge
You’re right, I probably would have bought another iPad eventually, but the larger iPhones largely offset any value that it offered as a consumption device and it’s no use to me in a professional capacity because it doesn’t support analytical software like my Mac does.
I think it’s the only current line of devices that Apple sells that we don’t have at least one of in our household. I’m pretty sure though that we’d have at least one now if it hadn’t been for the turd that was the iPad 3.
Comments
A bit of a D*** move by Apple? Yes.
Surprising? If you've been paying attention it shouldn't be.
Seriously when have you EVER been able to move a case from one device onto the next generation? There are exceptions, but they are so few and special as to prove the rule: If you update your device, Pad, Phone, MacBook, plan on new accessories.
I'm going to be getting a new iPad Pro to replace my old one and yes I'll have to get a new case, new keyboard, and new Apple Pencil to go along with it. That's life.
One of the reason's I wouldn't consider the Magic Keyboard is the cost. It's great but I'm not going to spend that much money for an accessory that I assume would only be good for one model.
I merely was pointing out that selling the 1 year old MK would incur additional loss (which is entirely true as no one would buy a used MK at full price) and you've generated an entire profile about me, which is actually quite inaccurate. The fact is, you know nothing about me, what I do, or how I feel. Hint: I have no plans to buy the new iPad Pro.
Unless Apple has intentionally displaced the 3 pins on the back of the iPad Pro 12.9, I don’t see why it still won’t attach and you still won’t be able to type on the older keyboard.
Now do remind us how much you claim that Apple products keep a higher value over years as you, essentially, declare your current setup as an obsolete mess that you just cannot use anymore.
It wouldn't be so bad if the thing wasn't so overpriced; I remember Jobs announcing the price of the original iPad to cheers from the audience, for less than the keyboard alone is now. Contrast that too with the dissatisfied mumblings at WWDC when they introduced the $1000 monitor stand. Cook is desperate to keep raising profit by any means, even if that includes shafting loyal customers. That is a terrible long-term strategy, it will come back to bite them in the ass.
In years past I used to be first in line for Apple's new devices, saving up beforehand to afford them. But now despite being able to afford them much more easily, I don't even consider a lot of them because they're just a ripoff.
People paid $500 knowing that it was for a temporary loaner to get them a head start developing for ASi Macs. Apple originally offered a partial refund to make sure people actually sent them back as they were required to by the agreement. Entitled whiners got Apple to cough up more money.
Good luck with this campaign to do the same here. It will be a sign of whether Apple is changing its attitude.
Personally I would think by now that people would understand that Apple does not put a huge emphasis on backwards compatibility and that there is a caveat emptor issue with being an early adopter of any new Apple product. It's one of the "quirks" of Apple and it's worked for them for a couple decades.
This added cost may very well lead some folks who are looking at this from a logical standpoint rather than emotional one to skip this version of the iPad Pro entirely or wait long enough to extract more value from their current iPad Pro before upgrading. That will result in less money flowing into Apple's coffers. Of course the salvage/resale value of their current iPad Pro has to be factored into the calculus and it too has a time based depreciation.
There is no one size fits all solution to deciding whether to upgrade or not to the new iPad Pro. Despite what you want to believe, emotions will come into play. I don't say that in a negative way, because it's really a big deal. In this case it's an even bigger deal because we're all just learning about this product and there are a lot of questions about its true benefits. Questions like:
1) What problem will having an M1 in an iPad Pro truly help me solve and put (or leave) more money in my pocket?
2) Is this product truly reaching its full potential with iPadOS or is it needless overkill?
3) Will this first generation product have a shorter shelf life like many Apple first-gen products do? E.g., how much better will 2nd release be?
4) How much better/faster/more effective is this iPad Pro compared to previous versions when doing real work?
Nobody gets "everything" right on the first try.We don't yet know where the shortcomings of the new iPad Pro are hiding, as of today, and still have some learning curve ahead of us. Well, we think we've learned that if we were planning to carry the previous version of the Magic Keyboard forward we were wrong.
In summary, I think the picture will get clearer once these iPad Pros start landing in people's hands and the benefit side of the equation is better known. Perhaps the added cost of the keyboard will seem like less of an issue at some point when the benefits start weighing in.
The iPad 3 was shockingly slow with future iOS updates, it just wasn’t powerful enough to drive the Retina display and ended up an expensive paperweight far before it should have.
I’ve not bought an iPad since.
Considering we have £12,000 ($16,500) worth of Apple products in our household the iPad is conspicuous by its absence.
I think it’s the only current line of devices that Apple sells that we don’t have at least one of in our household. I’m pretty sure though that we’d have at least one now if it hadn’t been for the turd that was the iPad 3.