The new Magic Mouse still cannot be used while charging. And that’s exactly what Apple wants.
After nine years of no changes with the new iMac M4, Apple yesterday finally updated its Magic Mouse, which now uses USB-C instead of Lightning. However, the controversial charging port remains exactly where it was: at the bottom of the mouse, rendering it useless while charging.
This decision, made back in 2015, has since become the subject of complaints and ridicule. That Apple is supporting it almost ten years later means that This is not a design flaw, but a declaration of principles taken to the extreme..
Apple is essentially telling us, “This is a wireless device, period.” Apple doesn’t want us to use a cabled mouse even for ten minutes. This is an uncompromising stance on user experience that Apple believes is correct. No matter what users prefer.
We’ve seen this before. The first Apple Pencil, also released in 2015, had to be charged by sticking out of the iPad like a makeshift antenna. The image was terrible. Apple included an adapter for charging with a cable, but in practice everyone resorted to something more convenient, if difficult to grasp: a pencil sticking out of the port.
The difference is that with the Pencil, if we wanted, we could use it while charging if we used the adapter. Magic Mouse has no alternative.
Apple’s most staunch and uncritical defenders, a figure that already sounds anachronistic, claim that the Magic Mouse charges quickly and that a few minutes will give you hours of use. This is true. They will also say that moving the port will ruin the clean lines of its design. This is also true.
But These excuses ignore what matters most: Apple prioritizes purity of concept over practical flexibility.
It’s almost as if Apple said, “If you want to use a wired mouse for even five minutes, buy a different mouse.” Magic Mouse is wireless by definition, not by choice. This is an extreme example of how Apple sometimes advances its vision of the future by removing options rather than adding them.
The upgrade to USB-C confirms that this isn’t an oversight or a temporary technical limitation—it’s a conscious decision that Apple is willing to support indefinitely. For better or worse, the Magic Mouse will still be a device that refuses to use a cable even when it needs charging.
This is bad? It depends on your point of view, but perfectly illustrates how Apple’s legendary attention to design can sometimes become dogma.. Sometimes the best user experience is simply giving users more options, not less.
Featured Image | Apple
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