Apple has released a new black Magic Mouse, but it still has to be flipped over to charge.
Today, March 8th, 2022, Apple released a new Magic Mouse. It comes with a sleek black finish. It also retains its charging connector on the bottom, implying that Apple still believes that the best method to power the mouse is to flip it over (rendering it useless) and put in a Lightning cable six and a half years after its release.
Here's a secret: I copied and pasted most of that final phrase from an essay I published about a year ago on this same issue when Apple debuted a new line of multicolored Magic Mice and had the opportunity to modify how they charged but didn't. Since October 2015, Apple has preserved the charge-on-the-bottom design.
The mouse's design was mocked by my former Verge colleague Nick Statt in December when he pointed out that Apple instructs users to "turn the gadget on its back like a beetle with its legs in the air and plug in the cord." I included a portion of that remark in my essay from last year, and I'm repeating it here because I still believe it's a wonderful metaphor for how ridiculous it all appears.
Most rechargeable wireless mice allow you to plug them in while they charge, allowing you to use them while they charge. Apple, on the other hand, refuses to install a charging port anywhere other than under the Magic Mouse for whatever reason. The new Apple Pencil doesn't need to stick out of a Lightning connector to charge, for example, and the new Apple TV Siri Remote ditched the old touchpad in favor of a scroll wheel and a click pad.
Apple even put a couple USB-C ports and an SDXC card slot on the front of the new Mac Studio instead of cramming them all in the rear, demonstrating Apple's recent willingness to provide consumers things they want in apparent places (see also: the many ports on the new MacBook Pros). However, the Magic Mouse's charging port on the underside remains.
To be fair, Apple promises that the Magic Mouse's battery will "power your Magic Mouse for around a month or more between charges" on its website, so you won't have to charge it every week. However, in the past, when I've used a wireless mouse, I've used them until the batteries were entirely depleted, then scrambled to find a charging cord so I could use them tethered while they recharged. I wouldn't be able to do that with the Magic Mouse; I'd have to push it to the side while it laid on its back to gain some more energy, and pray that I had another mouse or trackpad lying around.
If you still want the black Magic Mouse despite the unpleasant charging scenario, you can get one right now from Apple's website — but keep in mind that it's $20 more costly than the white one, much like the new black trackpad.
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