Last month, Apple introduced a number of new products, including a for $599. While that wasn’t exactly remarkable, it did bring something new to the table – another variant of .

This brings function keys to the for the first time, which is a pretty big win, but it also includes a number of head-scratching compromises. Let’s discuss.

First things first, this for starts at $269. That’s by no means affordable for an iPad keyboard. Sure, a cheaper offering is always a good thing. However, with your $30 in savings compared to the , you also lose out on having a backlit keyboard, a haptic touch trackpad, and an aluminum case.

Those compromises would make a level of sense if this were even cheaper, say $199-249. However, that isn’t the case. This keyboard is also only offered in white, which’ll be more subject to picking up dirt and stains.

Luckily, this is backwards compatible with the 4, as well as the M1 and M2 models. It is nice to see Apple make a new accessory with backwards compatibility in mind, something they don’t always do. However, it isn’t that simple…

Little known fact, Apple already made a that worked with models. They to this day.

The , designed for the 2018-2022 iPad Pro, worked with all modern models, and Apple even totes as such on the compatibility page.

Seemingly, Apple only made the new for one reason: function keys.

Don’t get me wrong, that’s a nice perk. But, Apple currently sells four Magic Keyboards for iPad, all extremely close to price with each other – which feels a little unnecessary:

If it were up to me, I would simplify the iPad keyboard lineup to just two models: one standard offering, and one pro offering.

at $249 might as well not exist. The chances of people buying a $249 keyboard alongside a are slim-to-none. The reason this keyboard exists is because the iPad 10 and 11 use a different smart connector from the rest of the iPad lineup, so cross-keyboard compatibility wouldn’t have been an option. However, Logitech offers the , and it’s virtually the exact same product. Kickstand and all. Apple could stop offering this keyboard.

On top of that, I would suggest that Apple simply implemented the larger camera bump cutout on the new . This way, compatibility with the 2018-2022 iPad Pro models could be retained, and Apple could discontinue the that was introduced in 2020. Alternatively, Apple could’ve never made the new , and instead lowered the price of the .

And of course, I wouldn’t touch the . That’s a good offering as is.

Four iPad keyboard offerings, all in the same price bracket – is a little bizarre. Especially when Apple has strong third-party offerings that utilize the smart connector from . This lineup is almost as bad as having four Apple Pencil offerings .

It doesn’t feel like a lot of thought was put into this, and I wouldn’t be surprised if most Apple Retail employees didn’t even understand the differences in the four iPad keyboards that are currently sold in Apple Stores. Apple could do better here.

My favorite Apple accessories on Amazon:

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