Apple unexpectedlydropped a new iPad Pro on Wednesday, and for the first time ever, it’s been augmented with trackpad and mouse support.
To offer a closer look at the new features, Apple’s software engineering chief Craig Federighi demonstrated the new Magic Keyboard’s trackpad on the iPad Pro, explaining in a video that the company imagined to upgrade the iPad with “versatility… built on the power of touch.”
iPad users will understand the frustration of editing text on their displays, and the many finger gestures Apple introduced for text selection on iPadOS isn’t helping. All will be made simpler with the Magic Keyboard’s trackpad, which Federighi said will streamline the typing process and make text selection, formatting, and dragging and dropping “super easy.”
The new Magic Keyboard, which gets trackpad support through the iPadOS 13.4 software, won’t come cheap, unfortunately. It will be priced at US$299 for the 11-inch tablet and US$349 for the 12.9-inch variation.
While Apple has allowed mouse support in the iPad for a while (it was hidden in the accessibility settings), the company finally announced it as an official feature with the new iPad Pro.
Federighi said the tech giant envisioned the cursor for a “touch-first environment.” Instead of an arrow, it is now a circle to mirror a fingertip.
The cursor is invisible when not in use, and only appears when you touch your trackpad or mouse. To indicate possible selections, the circle turns into a square when hovering an actionable element on the Home screen or in apps.
