ranzware
Hold on to your hats, Apple fans—the Apple Magic Mouse is rumoured to be getting a redesign, hopefully ending the tyranny of what is surely the worst port placement on any peripheral, ever.
Bloomberg reports that there’s a new model in the works, and the design team is “aiming to devise something that better fits the modern era.” One can only presume that means prioritising convenient charging, although it’s Apple, so who knows?
For those unaware, the Magic Mouse is probably Apple’s most polarising product. While it does have its fans, the main controversy surrounding the design rests with the charging port placement— which is located on the bottom of the squeaker at a right angle, so you can’t use it while the cable’s plugged in.
Apple even doubled down on the design with the most recent version, swapping the Lightning port for a USB Type-C connection—yet keeping it in the same, laughably inconvenient spot. Some manufacturers have even developed “ergonomic shoes” to add wireless charging to the mouse and “fix” the issue, although the efforts are not exactly elegant in the way Apple might like.
Bloomberg speculates that we’re still at least 12 to 18 months away from seeing a production version of whatever Apple’s cooking up, although prototyping is well underway. Aside from the charging port woes, the Magic Mouse has also received some flack over its 15 year run for its unergonomic shape, seemingly prioritising a sleek design over day-to-day comfort.
Still, the current version does have the odd cool feature, like a Multi-Touch surface that allows you to swipe gestures on the top for things like scrolling, or page navigation. I say cool, in that touch controls always are at first, but give me a mechanical scroll wheel any day of the week.
Presumably, the new model will keep the futuristic touch inputs, although knowing Apple it’ll probably come with a surprise or two in the final design. The best gaming mice come with all sorts of added doohickeys, button placements and swappable plates these days, although all that fiddly design is distinctly un-Apple-like. I’d expect something smooth and pebble-shaped regardless of changes, although there’s always room to be surprised.
Still, putting the charging port on the nose of the mouse would be step one, I reckon. I regularly curse headset manufacturers for burying USB Type-C ports deep in the chassis where some cables can’t reach, but at the very least they’re not mounting them inside the headband, I suppose.
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Kurt Indovina
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