rogifan_new

longfang said:

The only people Apple “burned” are the same group that feel they are somehow entitled to anything they want because “unfair” 

Someone who gives Apple $350 for an accessory is entitled? Microsoft’s Surface Pro type cover is only $129 and it works across multiple generations of Surface Pro machines. This is just bad design by Apple.

mjtomlin said:

Never assume that you'll be able to use any accessory across different generations of a device. There's always a possibility that the form factor may change.

Just sell your old set up as a bundle. Yes, you're going to lose money, but you would've regardless for used kit.

If there was a real change to the form factor or keyboard I could understand but the iPad and keyboard look nearly identical to the 2020 and 2018 models. Just slightly thicker and a bit heavier to accommodate the new display. The new keyboard is backwards compatible. So why wasn’t this keyboard the one they introduced last year? Microsoft Surface keyboards work across multiple generations of Surface Pros. To me that’s good design.

Since everyone is telling the complainers to just sell it perhaps Apple should offer a trade-in for it. They’re offering me $585 for my 2018 iPad Pro. If they threw in another $100 for the keyboard maybe I’d upgrade. It’s so much easier doing a trade-in with Apple than trying to sell yourself on eBay or wherever.

AppleZulu said:

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. 

The current 2020 magic keyboard works with the 2018 iPad Pro. My guess is a lot of current magic keyboard owners have the 2018 model. The 2020 model wasn’t much of an upgrade.

Also this new iPad Pro has the M1 chip and the ability to configure to 2TB storage and 16GB RAM plus 5G. So it’s possible someone who bought the 2020 iPad Pro will want to upgrade after they see the software updates to iPadOS at WWDC.

thedba said:

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. 

If the old keyboard worked with the New iPad Apple could easily get word out to someone like Gruber. But it appears they’re telling sites like AI and The Verge that it won’t work. This is really poor planning and engineering on Apple’s part. If they could make the new keyboard backwards compatible then they should have been able to make the 2020 keyboard future compatible. They had to know at that point a thicker/heavier iPad was in the pipeline.

bestkeptsecret said:

The iPad Pro saw no update last year, so I understand that Apple was anxious to release an update.

What I don't understand is why they would release one now, if they plan to release another later this year with the UWB chip, mini-LED backlighting and an A13/ A14 variant processor.

If AirTags rely on the UWB for more accuracy, it seems strange to release a new iPad Pro without it. I could understand if this was just an iPad Air or iPad, but it is not.

I really wonder what the rush was to get it out of the door.

Jason Snell thinks it’s because this new magic keyboard was ready and Apple didn’t want to wait until the fall or spring 2021 to release it. Of course it works with the 2018 iPad Pro too but the camera cutout is different. Some are comparing this to the iPad 3/4 situation but I don’t think it’s the same. The iPad 3 was not a good product. The hardware inside couldn’t really support the Retina display. The iPad 4 fixed that. In this case there don’t appear to be any hardware issues with this device. Maybe they just wanted a machine with lidar that developers could get their hands on before the new iPhones ship this fall.