Apple quietly upgrades its Magic Keyboard, but what's changed exactly?
You might be surprised by the change Apple has made
Quick summary
Apple has made a tweak to its Magic Keyboard, but only for those in the US.
The new version drops the text labels on some of the keys, resulting in a cleaner aesthetic.
Apple has just announced the new Mac mini and Mac Studio, the start of what promises to be an extensive upgrade to its Mac portfolio. In the midst of these changes, the company also has new Magic Keyboards.
Before you get too excited, only the US is getting the new Magic Keyboard. Is this a case of the rest of the world being left behind and missing out on some new evolution?
Well, as it happens, it isn't - the US version of the Magic Keyboard was lagging behind the rest of the world. So what's going on?
Highlighted by 9to5Mac, the Magic Keyboard, Magic Keyboard with Touch ID and Magic Keyboard with Touch ID and Numeric Keypad all appear as "new" on the Apple Store in the US.
But the only change to these keyboards is dropping many of the text labels on the keys and moving to more universal symbols instead. That was something that had already happened elsewhere, with the US hanging onto the labels for longer.
Apple Magic Keybaord with Numeric Keypad (top) and Apple Magic Keyboard with Touch ID and Numeric Keypad (bottom)
Some labels remain: control, option and command still dominate the bottom row of keys, but some of the other keyboard clutter has now been removed: home, page up, end, shift, return, tab and caps lock all lose the wording and just use symbols instead.
That reduces the visual clutter on the keyboard and for most users, they'll never even notice the change, especially if they are a daily user of the Magic Keyboard where most of the functionality is committed to muscle memory.
Some infrequent users might find that it's harder to find that pesky button when doing something unusual, but seeing as the rest of the world has managed to survive without them, it's likely that the US will adapt to the change too.
It's worth noting, however, that Apple still offers the older Magic Keyboard with Numeric Keypad (without Touch ID), so if you really want those labels they are still available. Alternatively, you can still buy the older models from retailers like Amazon, although that will likely change as stock runs out.
Apple has also made this change to keyboards on MacBooks in the US with recent launches, so this is obviously a bigger effort to clean up keyboard clutter across the range.
The new keyboards are available now from the Apple Store.
