Last week was such a huge week since Apple announced a plethora of new products, which Apple launched two days ago. While everyone has been busy covering Apple’s newly announced products, there was one discontinuation of a product that may have been overlooked.
Apple apparently discontinued the original Magic Keyboard that was designed for older iPad Pro and iPad Air models, as spotted by @tgod34748 on X.
As you may know, Apple introduced the original Magic Keyboard back in March 2020 when the company upgraded the iPad Pro models with the A12Z chip and introduced iPadOS 13.4, which brought trackpad support to the iPad for the very first time. The Magic Keyboard features a cantilever design that protects both the front and back of the iPad. It features a built-in backlit keyboard, an integrated trackpad, and a USB-C port for passthrough charging. In September that same year, Apple updated the iPad Air with the A14 chip and a more modern design. Since the iPad Air featured a design that was based on the iPad Pro back then, with the same width/height and similar thickness, the iPad Air also worked with the Magic Keyboard.
The Magic Keyboard initially came in black, but the following year, in April, Apple added a white color option for that accessory. In October 2022, when Apple introduced the 10th-generation base iPad, it debuted another accessory called the Magic Keyboard Folio, which was made for that iPad. This accessory is a two-piece design that features a detachable keyboard and a separate part that functions as a stand and protects the back of the iPad. This accessory only came in white.
In May 2024, Apple introduced the M4 iPad Pro, which was redesigned to be remarkably thin and to feature tandem OLED displays. Along with those models, Apple introduced the redesigned Magic Keyboard, which features an aluminum base, a haptic trackpad, and function keys – a feature that was featured before on the base iPad’s Magic Keyboard Folio. It’s offered in both black and white.
In March 2025, when Apple updated the iPad Air with the M3 chip, Apple introduced an upgraded Magic Keyboard that was specifically designed for only the iPad Air models. This accessory was largely based on the new Magic Keyboard for the iPad Pro (M4/M5). Although it has a more modern design and function row keys, it lacks the backlit keys, an aluminum base, and a haptic trackpad. It initially came in only white, but an additional black option was later offered when Apple introduced the M5 iPad Pro.
There’s now an updated Magic Keyboard for iPad, iPad Air, and iPad Pro, so there’s just no point in keeping the original Magic Keyboard around since that lacks the function row keys. So it would make sense for Apple to discontinue the accessory and simplify the lineup more. Perhaps Apple could discontinue the original Apple Pencil since it featured an antiquated Lightning connector, and pairing/charging it with the base iPad (10th/11th generation) is now clunky.
The existing Magic Keyboard accessories are available to order for iPad, iPad Air, and iPad Pro, and iPad Air (M4) is now available for customers.
