Apple changes peripherals just enough to fit its ecosystem

Aug 17, 2015 15:18 GMT  ·  By

It's true, Apple's peripherals haven't changed much in the last years. The Magic Mouse's latest iteration is from 2009 while the Wireless Keyboard is, surprisingly, older than that.

However, things are about to change at Apple's peripherals division. Don't worry, Apple is still much too conservative to even allow a new experimental peripheral to be added to its existing roster. The novelties will actually be regarding the upgrade in incremental steps of the present and quite everlasting mouse and keyboard set.

Although signs of a slight facelift and simple upgrades are there, its doubtful the new Magic Mouse should hit its second iteration, being called "Magic Mouse 2". Apparently from what details arrived to us from the FCC documents discovered by 9to5Mac, it seems the new Magic Mouse will ditch the AA batteries while having built-in lithium-ion packs that will be rechargeable, yeah rechargeable mouse, while the connectivity will move from Bluetooth 2.0 to 4.2 standard.

Incremental upgrades for an universal use

According to the official website for Bluetooth, the 4.2 Low Energy version is faster, more secure and more power efficient. The new power efficiency will help a lot the new battery standard, meaning the end of battery switching for the Mac users

We suspect that the keyboard will also receive new iPad centric Bluetooth keyboard controls in iOS 9, while the mouse will probably use the new accessory to port Force Touch support over the desktop. Apparently, Apple plans a universal set of peripherals to be compatible with most of its products that will include Macs, MacBooks, iPads and iPhones altogether. It's not known exactly when the new upgraded mouse and keyboard set will make their appearance, but it is speculated they might come around on September 9 when Apple plans to release new iPhones, iPad mini, and Apple TV.

Although peripherals aren't usually on Apple top list, they could become a key object in Apple's extended ecosystem.