Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman wrote in one of his newsletters this month that Apple is working on a new version of the Magic Mouse, and now a Korean leaker has suggested that it will include “voice control.”
While Gurman hasn’t heard the same information from any of his sources, he did chime in on X to say he thinks it makes sense “in light of AI” and the fact that Apple likely intends this iteration of the Magic Mouse to have a long life, just like its predecessor.
Voice control in the new Magic Mouse I wrote about this month makes sense in light of AI — and the fact that Apple is on a decade-plus cycle. From what I’ve heard, big focus is ergonomics and gestures (relocated USB-C too). I’d expect a new keyboard too. https://t.co/FtUcR2Yqdj
— Mark Gurman (@markgurman) December 30, 2024
The phrase “voice control” is a little odd, however. We’re not talking about controlling the mouse by voice; we’re talking about accessing voice-controlled features on your PC like Siri through the mouse. Your computer will still be doing all the work so, rather than having voice control, it might be more accurate to say the new Magic Mouse will have a microphone. Admittedly, this does sound a lot less exciting.
If you wanted to talk to ChatGPT on a desktop PC right now, you’d need to use the microphone from a webcam, a headset, or a standalone microphone to get the job done. If a mic was just hiding away in your mouse, on the other hand, you’d always have access without needing to turn anything else on. That probably means, however, that Apple should extend the same accessibility to Magic Touchpad users and stick a mic on that as well.
Aside from microphones and voice control, Gurman believes that the main focus will be on ergonomics and gestures. The shape of the original Magic Mouse is one of the main things people hate about it since it pretty much ignores the shape of the human hand and just focuses on what looks cool instead.
The same goes for the infamous charging port, which is hidden on the bottom of the mouse to avoid it hurting the aesthetics. Gurman has already mentioned that Apple plans to finally change this placement, however, and it will be interesting to see what kind of solution it comes up with. After the latest placement debacle with the M4 Mac mini and its power button, there’s a distinct possibility that Apple could get this wrong again.