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So… the new Magic Keyboard is……….. the same.
- Thread starter James Godfrey
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Not really lmao!!! Weird how they never changed the box design, can see many people ordering 5th Gen keyboard and just getting a 4th Gen
That was my contention from the beginning. However someone posted schematics of camera port changes as well as referencing that .5mm extra thickness as reasons the keyboard case would be different from the current one. I have a 3rd gen 2018 12.9 iPP that my wife will be getting when my 5th gen arrives. I have the previous Smart Keyboard folio for the 2018 device which she will also get so I did order a new 5th gen SKF which has the camera cutout for the 4th and 5th gen. When it arrived the product label just says 3rd and 4th gen, no sign of 5th gen anywhere on it. I posted that except for the different camera cutouts it was identical to my 3rd gen. Another poster argued with me that Apple mistakenly sent me “old” stock and I should send it back because it wouldn’t work. Even though I did not believe that it did make me a little nervous.
So the next day I went to my Apple Store with the new keyboard in its box and asked them to compare it to what they were selling as 5th gen MKFs. They brought out the exact same box with the same product label, no 5th gen label anywhere. They said there was no change and no difference in the keyboards. I mentioned the .5mm difference and they kinda chuckled….no issue. I still got an argument from the poster here about the Magic Keyboard, I also had bought that last year. I contended that since there was no change in the Smart Keyboard folio whatever changes there were to the 5th gen iPad weren’t significant enough to make the MKB incompatible. Of course there were those references from one French article saying that official communication stated it was not compatible….because of that .5mm increase. Yeah right, people use screen covers thicker than that with no issue.
I’ve seen some posts here that when people put the new “official” 5th gen MKB that they‘ve received onto their 3rd or 4th gen iPPs they believed there was a slightly bigger gap visible contending that Apple had increased it to accomodate the extra .5mm. The guy in that video didn’t really look at that so there could actually be some difference there. But if you’re not using a screen cover currently or don’t plan to with the new device there really should be no issues. As he said those who didnt already have an MKB may want to buy the new one. Those who have one should be good to go.