Apple's New Patent Could Lead to Some Wild iPad Accessories

Apple has come up with an ingenious way to add more powerful magnets to the iPad, without making those magnets dangerous or annoying in everyday use.

The new design lets Apple put powerful magnets inside mobile devices like the iPad, hidden away from the edge so that their strong magnetic fields don't stray so far beyond the bounds of the iPad itself. Then, when you bring a compatible device close to the iPad's surface, these magnets pop toward the surface, ready to grab whatever you have brought near them. Which made us wonder—what kinds of neat tricks might the iPad do if it had these powerful magnets inside?

"A magnetic folio case or keyboard could firmly attach for improved versatility as a mobile workstation. Or perhaps a mountable magnetic dock to seamlessly transition the iPad between desktop, countertop, or dashboard displays in different environments. From an accessory pricing and ecosystem attachment standpoint, magnetic add-ons feel very on-brand for Apple's strategy," John Pennypacker, VP at AI company Deep Cognition, told Lifewire via email.

Rules of Attraction

Fact: I once tested an iPad case that included a floppy felt strap with a powerful magnet at the end. One day, I grabbed the iPad, and the strap's magnet in turn grabbed the cast-iron teapot on the tray next to me. Fortunately, the teapot was cold and almost empty.

This shows that magnets, although very useful, are not to be trifled with. They can grab teapots, and scramble hotel keycards. In the old days, you couldn't put magnets near audio cassettes, lest they wiped or zapped the music thereon.

Apple's patent filing puts little lever mechanisms inside the edge of the iPad. These are actuated by approaching magnets, like those in an Apple Pencil, say. These mechanisms allow the powerful magnets to flip towards the edge of the iPad, and to fold away again when you remove the accessory.

Apple already uses plenty of magnets in the iPad. They secure the iPad into its folio case and detect when the case opens and closes, to wake and sleep the display. They hold it tight into its keyboard case, and—as mentioned—they hold the Apple Pencil and align it for efficient inductive charging.

But if they were more powerful, they could do a lot more. One of the diagrams in Apple's patent application shows an iPad secured onto a keyboard by its edge alone, instead of needing an entire back panel covered with weaker magnets.

But what else could they do?

Mag-Safe

How about a MagSafe charger like on the iPhone? A donut of magnets could clamp the iPad onto a stand, charging it, and allowing its USB-C port free for hooking up to other accessories.

And speaking of magnetically attached power, an external battery wouldn't be a bad idea. You could snap it into place and forget about it while it charges the iPad.

Power could also be sent in another direction, just like charging the Apple Pencil. You could, for example, stick your AirPods, or iPhone case to the back of the iPad and use its huge battery to top up those smaller devices.

Another interesting idea comes from iMore's James Bentley. It's a Nintendo-Switch-style set of joypads, which could stick onto the side edges of your iPad like Joy-Cons. It's a nice idea, but unless you're using the iPad mini, it's likely to get pretty unwieldy. And the iPad can already be used with a Bluetooth controller, which seems like a much comfier option.

Being able to snap the iPad into some kind of stand with only its edge would come in handy for all kinds of stands and stand-type accessories though. Imagine a MIDI keyboard or even a full-sized, 88-key piano controller with a strip where you could attach an iPad for either showing a musical manuscript or running Logic Pro for iPad. Bonus points if Apple also adds its smart connector to the edge array for wireless data transfer.

"Imagine a modular iPad ecosystem where you can snap on additional screens via these magnets, extending your workspace seamlessly or creating a dual-screen setup for enhanced productivity and immersive gaming experiences. This could also lead to developing specialized magnetic accessories like an e-ink display for readers who want the best of both worlds: a powerful tablet and a reader-friendly screen," Garret Yamasaki, an ex-Google software engineer and founder of We Love Doodles, told Lifewire via email.

Or a bedside table with an edge-connector so you could just stand the iPad up on its edge, and maybe even use it as a (huge) alarm clock.

And finally, how about being able to snap a webcam onto the edge of the iPad, to get a much better FaceTime experience?

That's a lot of speculation, but it shows just how cool and useful magnets can be, especially when you have something the size of an iPad to play with. We're not expecting any magnetic surprises with this month's expected iPad launch, but who knows? If we expected them, they wouldn't be surprises.