How Apple may repair its terrible Magic Mouse

Apple likes to place itself as a daring and modern firm, and generally, 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 because of its absurd $3,500 pricetag, however corporations like Meta and Bigscreen are however 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 telephone makers had switched to USB-C. We might most likely be seeing Lightning on some merchandise immediately if European laws hadn’t pressured Apple’s hand. While you’ve been regulated into utilizing higher requirements, one thing’s fallacious.

The Magic Mouse is one other instance of this perspective. It has its followers, however it’s arguably one of many worst equipment Apple retains in circulation. It is not even onerous 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 extensively 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, on condition that different wired mice put their USB ports on the again, the place they belong. At worst, it may truly forestall you from doing all your job except you have obtained a trackpad or secondary mouse as a fallback. It is no marvel a whole lot 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 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 corporations ought to hearken to buyer suggestions.

The apparent design repair can be to change to a back-facing port, however since Apple loves making every part 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 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 might most likely improve the associated 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 wish to make the most of contact gestures. There is a motive most mice preserve a bulbous form — it is an acknowledgment of anatomy, not outdated aesthetics, or a must pack in a ton of electronics. You could possibly 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 assist these contact gestures, however there needs to be a extra human-friendly method. Maybe Apple may transfer contact gestures to the aspect of the gadget, or make the shell bulbous solely the place your palm rests.

Personally, I might relatively Apple change 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 truly 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 risk.

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Suppose completely 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 looking for it in the event 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 will get Logitech’s MX Grasp 3S, which is taken into account a gold commonplace within the trade. It has a number of scroll wheels, a fantastic 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 really interprets into a whole lot of work on the producer’s finish, contemplating how folks truly use their units, and tailoring each final aspect to match. It is why bargain-basement mice are so horrible. You’ll be able to’t do every part you need, the best way 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 sooner or later? Maybe. It is a minimum of prone to keep within the recreation, since it might be unusual for Apple to promote Mac desktops with out a vital approach of controlling them. However there’s additionally the chance it’s going to 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 in the marketplace, and few folks appear to thoughts nowadays.

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