![close up of an apple computer keyboard close up of an apple computer keyboard](https://picography.co/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/picography-white-keyboard-keys-up-close-768x512.jpg)
Both of Apple’s accessories for the iPad Pro are folio cases, meaning they’ve got both a front and a back. The most dramatic use of magnets is when it comes to accessories. On the new iPad, Apple’s using magnets in four primary ways: As a way to firmly attach accessories to the device’s back, as an Apple Pencil attachment, to attach the Smart Connector, and to attach a screen cover while locking or unlocking the device. That brings us to the new iPad Pro, with 102 magnets spread all around. (This isn’t a particularly strong magnetic connection, as anyone who has looked at their Apple Watch the wrong way and had its charger pop off would attest.) Refrigerator magnets In this case, it’s the Apple Watch inductive charger, which gently snaps against the back of the Apple Watch. Similarly, on the Apple Watch-as with MagSafe back in the day-Apple’s using magnetism to hold a charger against a device. It’s not just that an iPad or iPhone cover is up against a device-the magnets are keeping that cover closed until someone exerts enough force to open it back up. The nice thing about using magnets for such a purpose is, as the latch on a MacBook also shows us, it allows a device to know whether it’s open or shut and provides attraction to keep it shut. AppleĬlose Apple’s iPhone XS Leather Folio, and the screen goes to sleep. It is not a coincidence that the first instance of Apple selling a case that covers the face of the iPhone came with the same product. But the iPhone X (and now the XS) were, so far as I can tell, the first iPhones to have that same functionality. It’s something that Apple’s been using for ages in the iPad to automatically sleep and wake those devices when you open and close them via a Smart Cover.
![close up of an apple computer keyboard close up of an apple computer keyboard](https://image.shutterstock.com/image-photo/genevaswitzerland-090918-apple-macbook-pro-260nw-1195576663.jpg)
One curious addition to the iPhone X last year was something called a Hall sensor, which is the name of a sensor that can detect when a strong magnetic field comes close to it.