Apple Magic Keyboard, Mouse & Trackpad: Which to Buy in 2026

Apple's desktop accessories look like a simple three-item lineup. They aren't. In 2026 there are six Magic Keyboard variants at five different prices, one of which is still sold with a Lightning port nine years after its design was finalised, and a Magic Mouse whose charging port remains in the one place everybody complains about.

This is the practical guide: what's current, what to buy, what to skip, and the compatibility trap that catches iPad owners out.

The 2026 lineup and prices

Model	Price (US)	Connector	Touch ID
Magic Keyboard	$99	USB-C	No
Magic Keyboard with Touch ID	$149	USB-C	Yes
Magic Keyboard with Touch ID + Numeric Keypad	$179 white / $199 black	USB-C	Yes
Magic Keyboard with Numeric Keypad	$129	⚠️ Lightning	No
Magic Mouse	$79 white / $99 black	USB-C (underside)	—
Magic Trackpad	$129 white / $149 black	USB-C (rear edge)	—

Apple moved this range to USB-C on 28 October 2024, alongside the M4 iMac. Nothing else changed — same shape, same feel, same internals. As one hands-on put it, all of the devices were updated to USB-C "but little else has changed."

Note the $20 surcharge for black across the range. And the colour-matched versions that ship with an iMac — blue, pink, orange, with matching braided cables — aren't sold separately. The only way to get one is to buy an iMac.

The Lightning holdout nobody mentions

Filter Apple's own Mac accessories store by "Lightning port" and exactly one product comes back: the $129 Magic Keyboard with Numeric Keypad.

Its spec sheet still lists a Lightning port and a "Lightning to USB-A Cable" in the box. Its battery-life footnote still cites testing conducted in April 2017. Its minimum OS is macOS 10.12.4. This is the 2017 keyboard, unchanged, still on sale in 2026 at $129.

The practical advice writes itself: if you want a numeric keypad, pay the extra $50 for the $179 Touch ID version. You get USB-C and a fingerprint sensor. The $129 model is the weakest purchase in Apple's accessory range.

The Magic Mouse charging port: no, it wasn't fixed

The USB-C switch was widely expected to relocate the port. It didn't. Apple moved from Lightning to USB-C and left it exactly where it was — on the bottom.

Apple's own support page states both halves plainly: "Magic Keyboard and Magic Trackpad can be used while charging. Magic Mouse is unavailable for use while charging." And: "The charging port on Magic Mouse is on the underside of the device." It's a deliberate software lockout, not just awkward geometry.

The Verge's reaction was representative: "Apple still thinks that the best way to charge your Magic Mouse is by flipping it over to plug it in, making it so you can't use it. Why?"

In fairness, there's a real counter-argument. John Gruber has defended the placement on design grounds — Apple wants the top surface to slope unbroken to the desk, which an exposed side port would ruin — and argues the enforced pause may be intentional. He calls it "an opinionated design, not an absurd design." He also notes, in the same piece, that an hour of use made his wrist ache.

The mitigating fact: roughly two minutes of charging gives about nine hours of use, and a full charge lasts around a month. In practice you flip it over during a coffee break. It's a papercut, not a catastrophe — but at $79 it's a papercut Apple has chosen not to fix for a decade.

What reviewers actually recommend

Buy the Trackpad. It's the consensus standout of the three. AppleInsider: "Magic Trackpad is hands-down best in class. There is no other trackpad that is as good as Apple's Magic Trackpad that we've seen or tested." Cult of Mac scored it 4/5, calling it "the best input device for macOS." It also has its USB-C port on the back edge, so you can charge and keep working — the thing the mouse won't let you do.

Be honest about the Mouse. Cult of Mac scored it 3/5 under the subheading "Same ol' problems," and was blunt: "The Magic Mouse is rightly derided for failing to understand its users. Specifically, their hands. It just isn't comfortable." Macworld lists "not so comfortable if you have large hands" among its cons. Wirecutter doesn't pick it in any category — its recommendations are all Logitech.

It isn't without merit. The button-free shell makes it genuinely ambidextrous, which the ergonomic alternatives aren't, and it comes free with an iMac or Mac Pro — comfortably the cheapest way to own one.

Timing warning: Bloomberg's Mark Gurman has reported that a redesigned, more ergonomic Magic Mouse with a relocated port is in development, with leakers pointing to late 2026. That's a rumour, not confirmed, and reports conflict — but paying full price for a Magic Mouse in the second half of 2026 is the weakest-timed purchase in the lineup.

Touch ID only works on Apple silicon

This trips up owners of older Macs. The product is literally named "Magic Keyboard with Touch ID for Mac models with Apple silicon," and the system requirement is a Mac with Apple silicon running macOS 15.1 or later.

Apple's compatibility list proves it: no Intel Mac appears on it — not the 2017 iMac Pro, not the 2019–2020 27-inch iMac, not the 2018 Mac mini, not the 2019 Mac Pro. All of those are listed for the non-Touch-ID $99 keyboard.

The keyboard will still pair with an iPhone or iPad over Bluetooth, but the fingerprint sensor does nothing there. If you're on an Intel Mac, buy the $99 model and save your money.

The iPad Magic Keyboard trap

Different product line, and the compatibility rules are stricter than most people realise.

Model	Price	Backlit keys	Palm rest
Magic Keyboard for iPad Pro 11"	$299	Yes	Aluminium
Magic Keyboard for iPad Pro 13"	$349	Yes	Aluminium
Magic Keyboard for iPad Air 11"	$269	No	Silicone
Magic Keyboard for iPad Air 13"	$319	No	Silicone
Magic Keyboard Folio for iPad (A16)	$249	No	Two-piece

Three things worth knowing before you spend $300:

The "(M5)" and "(M4)" suffixes are renames, not new products. Apple's own tech-spec sheet for the "Magic Keyboard for iPad Pro 11-inch (M5)" lists "Year introduced: 2024" — it's the identical accessory launched with the M4 iPad Pro, same part numbers, renamed at the M5 launch.

The old 12.9-inch keyboard and the new 13-inch keyboard share zero compatibility. The 2020/2021 model fits iPad Pro 12.9-inch 3rd–6th gen only; the current one fits iPad Pro 13-inch M4 and M5 only. The M4 chassis is a different body, so the magnets and cutouts don't line up. The trap most guides miss is that the same applies at 11 inches — the old 11-inch keyboard doesn't officially support the M4 or M5 iPad Pro either.

iPad Air and iPad Pro keyboards are no longer cross-compatible at all, which is a change from the 2020 keyboard that spanned both. And Apple has quietly stopped selling any first-party keyboard for pre-M4 iPad Pros — filter its store by iPad Pro 12.9-inch 6th gen and you get third-party cases only.

One more thing to weigh on the Air: the current Air keyboard dropped the backlight that the previous generation had. That's a regression, not just a tier difference, and it's the main thing your extra $30 buys on the Pro version — along with an aluminium palm rest and a haptic trackpad.

There is still no Apple keyboard for any iPad mini.

Where to save money

Apple does not sell these refurbished. As of August 2026 its Certified Refurbished accessories category contains only Apple Pencils and Studio Displays — a common and costly assumption.

The real discount channel is Amazon, and the discounts are shallow and rare. During July 2026, 9to5Toys tracked the black Magic Mouse and the Magic Keyboard at $80 each (from $99) and the full-size Touch ID keyboard at $145 (from $179) — all record lows, and the site noted that before that, "deals on these Apple accessories were very rare." Expect roughly 10–20% off, not 40%.

If you're buying second-hand, check the part number. Only one current SKU is Lightning and the generations look near-identical, so used listings are easy to get wrong. The USB-C models are MXCL3, MXCK3, MXK73/MXK83, MXK53/MXK63 and MXK93/MXKA3.

The alternatives Apple sells in its own store

Here's the quiet irony: Apple stocks the products that fix its own accessories' shortcomings.

• Logitech MX Keys Mini — $99.95 at apple.com. Same price as the base Magic Keyboard, and it has backlit keys and switches between three devices. It fixes both of the Magic Keyboard's headline gaps.
• Logitech MX Master 4 — $119.95 at apple.com. Eight buttons to the Magic Mouse's two, roughly 70 days of battery, tracks on glass — and, pointedly, USB-C charging while you work.
• Logitech Lift for Mac — $79.95 at apple.com. A 57° vertical design developed with ergonomists. Wirecutter's vertical-mouse pick and Macworld's choice for comfort. Same price as a white Magic Mouse.

If your wrist hurts, that last one is the honest recommendation over anything Apple makes.

What to buy

For a desktop Mac with Apple silicon: the $149 Magic Keyboard with Touch ID plus the $129 Magic Trackpad. Touch ID genuinely earns its keep on a Mac mini or Mac Studio, and the trackpad is the best in its class.

On an Intel Mac: the $99 keyboard, because Touch ID won't work anyway.

Skip the $129 Lightning keyboard entirely, and think twice about a full-price Magic Mouse while a redesign is rumoured.

You can buy Apple accessories, Macs, iPads and more with Bitcoin or another cryptocurrency at AppleBitcoin — genuine, sealed, full Apple warranty, free insured shipping. Browse the full catalogue, or read our guide to Apple Certified Refurbished if you're weighing new against refurbished — and does Apple ever go on sale explains why accessory discounts are so thin in the first place.

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