Digitimes: Backlit Smart Keyboard for iPad Pro coming later this year, 13-inch MacBook Pro with scissor keys sooner

A report from Digitimes suggests that the iPad Pro will get refreshed later this year, and with it, a new Smart Keyboard with backlit keys.

Digitimes says Apple plans to roll out its “glowing” scissor switch keyboard across its products, starting with the 13-inch MacBook Pro in the first half of the year.

Following several years of the unreliable and controversial butterfly mechanism, Apple reverted to a scissor switch keyboard with the 16-inch MacBook Pro. This has been widely positively received, which should come as not too much of a surprise, given that the keyboard is very similar to the Apple external Magic Keyboard.

However, the question is how long it will take for the better keyboard to make its away across Apple’s product line. The 16-inch MacBook Pro is Apple’s most expensive laptop. The majority of Apple consumers won’t benefit from the scissor mechanism design until it hits the cheaper models like the MacBook Air and the 13-inch MacBook Pro.

Ming-Chi Kuo previously reported that Apple would refresh every MacBook in 2020 with the new scissor switch keyboard. Digitimes says that the 13-inch MacBook Pro with scissor keys will debut in the first half of the year. We’ve also seen Apple register a new MacBook model with the Eurasian Economic Commission, which could very likely be the new 13-inch MacBook Pro.

Adding a backlight to the iPad Pro Smart Keyboard would be a nice feature addition, and may indicate a bigger overhaul of the accessory is on the way. Alongside the 2018 iPad Pro, Apple radically redesigned the Apple Pencil, but the Smart Keyboard received less drastic changes largely concentrated on supporting the new iPad Pro’s form factor rather than adding new features.