Apple is upping its magnet game for a best-ever Smart Folio on the new iPads

Today is launch day for the M4 iPad Pro and M2 iPad Air, so more users are starting to get their hands on the devices and making new discoveries about them.

One such find came from MKBHD, who discovered how Apple is upping its magnet game with the new iPad Pro and Air to make its Smart Folio better and more versatile than ever.

New Smart Folios for new iPad magnets

When Apple first debuted the new iPad Pro and Air, the Apple Store was updated to feature a revised accessory paired with each device: the new Smart Folio.

The new Smart Folio comes in separate variations for the iPad Pro and Air:

• M4 iPad Pro: 13-inch and 11-inch
• M2 iPad Air: 13-inch and 11-inch

One key tidbit from the product pages was that this new Smart Folio would come with “a wider range of viewing angles.” But from outside appearances, it didn’t look all that different from previous Smart Folios. So no one knew exactly how that was the case.

Enter MKBHD:

As the latter part of the video shows, Apple has included new, longer magnets so that when a compatible iPad is attached, you can slide it up or down the Smart Folio to modify the viewing angle.

9to5Mac’s Take

This is a clever way that Apple has taken an existing product’s form factor, which is already perfectly suited for the iPad, and improved its usefulness by making invisible changes where you wouldn’t expect them. By changing the iPad’s magnets, rather than tweaking the hardware of the Smart Folio itself, Apple has improved the experience of using the accessory while keeping the same familiarity for both products that has stood the test of time.

Have you purchased a new Smart Folio? Do you expect to benefit from the improved viewing angles? Let us know in the comments.