Apple launches larger Magic Trackpad 2 with Force Touch for $129, Magic Mouse 2 for $79, and Magic Keyboard for $99
Apple's standalone keyboard, trackpad, and mouse just got a lot better — Apple is updating its standalone keyboard, trackpad, and mouse today in ways that make them much better than they used to be.
Context & Ripple Effects
This 2015 refresh rebuilt Apple's entire standalone input lineup in one day: a larger [[a:magic-trackpad-2|Magic Trackpad 2]] with Force Touch at $129, a $79 Magic Mouse 2, and a $99 Magic Keyboard. It matters because these three products became the template Apple has barely touched since — the same trio, at nearly the same prices, ran on Lightning for nine years before the 2024 USB-C update.
The 'Magic Keyboard' name introduced here also became the umbrella for Apple's most expensive accessories: the iPad Pro's detachable keyboard ($299–$349 for the M4 iPad Pro models) and the standalone Touch ID version Apple later split off from the laptop line.
First-order effects
- Mac buyers shopping for standalone inputs get a forced upgrade path — the Force Touch trackpad brings desktop users the pressure-sensing feature already on MacBooks, at a $30 premium over the old trackpad tier implied by the $129 price.
- Apple locks in a three-tier accessory price ladder ($79/$99/$129) that it would hold essentially unchanged through the 2024 refresh.
Second-order effects
- The keyboard design propagates beyond desktops: Apple reuses the scissor-switch Magic Keyboard in the 2020 MacBook Air and as the backlit keyboard-and-trackpad folio for the iPad Pro, turning a $99 peripheral into the foundation of $300+ iPad accessories.
- By keeping the standalone trio on Lightning long after its computers moved on, Apple creates a mixed-cable ecosystem that third-party accessory makers have to support alongside USB-C.
Third-order effects
- The pattern points toward Apple treating input hardware as a premium upsell layer rather than commodity add-ons — one brand name stretched from a $79 mouse to $349 iPad keyboards, with compatibility deliberately gated (the Touch ID standalone works only with Apple silicon Macs).
The trend: Apple is consolidating its Mac and iPad input hardware around a single Magic Keyboard/trackpad platform whose pricing and port choices change rarely and deliberately.