Eh, I think this is a definitive case of “This is not for you.”
I have spent $200 and $300 on two different keyboards in the last year.
You may not want to spend that much, which is cool, but there are plenty of people who do.
Other critiques of the product are certainly fair! But quit being judgy about the price/product thing. I am sensitive. 
(To put it differently—go judge people who buy handbags, pens, and watches! There’s better targets for luxury products in the world than a keeb.)
Okay, but folding back over itself was never promised as a feature of this device, so it’s not entirely fair to make that presumption and then blame Apple for not meeting your assumption. Also, they’re sort of fighting physics with this design. Folding back over itself would require a different mechanism, likely some way to “unlock” the hinge to go past the current maximum angle which would no doubt add complexity, and probably weight and cost. Though I do agree, it would have been nice if Apple was more forthcoming with how the mechanism worked.
Your assumptions are your own to manage, and buying a product unseen and unreviewed is part of the risk. Return policies are your friend. 
Interesting. Other reviewers haven’t mentioned this, so I wonder if it’s your specific unit or the reviewers were less perceptive of these differences.
It does extend, but in a specific direction. Previously, there was no first-party combined keyboard and trackpad for the iPad and the original folio is still available, so nothing has really been reduced unless you assume new accessories should always be cumulative in features (which is rarely the case for any technology, especially from Apple).
Thanks to this thread, I did some more research and decided to order the iPad Pro Magic Keyboard for my 12.9" iPad Pro. I like the idea of using the trackpad with it – hoping it will be useful for photo editing, etc., and research note taking with MarginNote Pro.
I’ve used a Logitech keyboard so far with the 12.9", which weighs a tiny bit more than the Apple keyboard. I really like the new Apple form factor and design. Leaving the keyboard and iPad married is fine with me. I never take my 12.9" out of the keyboard – it’s not my handheld / walkabout / handwriting device of choice – I have an 11" for that purpose.
Looking forward to getting this – delivered in a few weeks.
I ordered the Magic Keyboard for my 12.9" iPad Pro; it arrives in nine days.
My primary use at the moment is on the couch in the evening. Now I have to get out the lap desk, iPad, iPad stand, keyboard and Bluetooth trackball and get them all set up before I can do anything. I’m looking forward to removing a couple of moving parts from the equation.
In the future, when the current crisis lifts, I expect I will be going back on the road for business travel. I recently started using my iPad with a detachable keyboard when I’m out and about during the day, and leaving the MacBook Pro in the hotel room. My reason for doing that was reducing weight, and the iPad Pro + Magic Keyboard won’t help there. However, once I started doing that I realized the REAL benefit is I don’t have to worry about battery life when trying to work on the MacBook Pro during the day.
I can see where the Magic Keyboard would not be the right device for anybody using it while standing up, or on public transit. FWIW, I have never been able to comfortably use the iPad standing up either. Public transit is a different matter – I’m picturing the New York subway where if you can get a seat you’re going to have other people’s knees(1) in your face, and taking out an iPad would be practical but juggling an iPad with a detachable case would be impractical.
I expect this distinction is one of the reasons Apple continues to offer the Keyboard Folio. Do you want a more expensive case that converts your iPad into a laptop? Get the Magic Keyboard. Do you want a less expensive – but still expensive! – folio that lets you use the iPad in tablet mode with the case still attached? Get the Keyboard Folio.
Yes, the Magic Keyboard is expensive but, like MacSparky, buying Apple gear is my one major luxury indulgence – other than living in Southern California and if I’m ever going to economize drastically that’s the thing I’d end up changing.
When making a luxury purchase like the Magic Keyboard, the first question I ask myself is of course can I afford it? Second question is will I use it – and the answer with the Magic Keyboard is yes, every day.
(1) Let’s just say “knees” here.
Hey, I said I was sensitive!
Fine, fine—in the spirit of discussion, here’s why you’re Abe Simpson.
Sadly (but also happily!), we’ve found ourselves in a subculture of consumption. The value of products here are as much socially constructed as they are material- or market-based. See also Harley Davidson (as discussed at that link), fashion designers, luxury watches, etc. etc.
Apple is not only a tech company. Apple sells fashion accessories that help customers connect to the Internet.
The amazing thing about Apple, though—to me, anyway—is that the value of the products go beyond the brand and participation in the subculture. Unlike other subcultures (handbags being a prime example), the products we buy to participate in this subculture are actually advance what is currently possible.
Storytime!
In grade 11, I was diagnosed with a writing disability and I was encouraged to use a laptop to type notes instead. Problem was I was mostly a math/science student and didn’t want to carry around paper and pens and a laptop, too. Plus, I was a geek then. (No longer. I promise.)
So, I picked up my first real tech love: a Lenovo Tablet PC.
It ran Windows XP. It had pressure-sensitive tablet screen with a Wacom-based stylus. It weighed four pounds. It had about seven hours of battery life.
I wasn’t the only one to buy these things. It was actually really well reviewed. And it was actually a great experience. Some aspects of it were even better than iPadOS is today.
I went on to buy three more Windows-based convertible laptops before switching to Apple when I started CS.
The kicker: the first one was ~CDN$2,000, the second convertible laptop was CDN$3,000, a Samsung Series 7 Slate was CDN$1,500 for just the tablet, and the first Surface was about CDN$2,000. (Thank the gods for funding for disabilities, summer jobs, and scholarships…)
And none of them were as good overall as the CDN$1200 iPad Pro with a CDN$100 stylus and a CDN$400 keyboard.
Ergo, I think this product is priced exactly right for what it does to my iPad Pro. I have never been able to type on a computer with decent software in my lap without the thing burning up. I need a device that can transition quickly and ergonomically between highlighting a PDF or sketching a diagram and typing on labels or writing an article. And I am one of many customers who’ve paid more for worse experiences over the years.
Sure, maybe they’re charging more than you’d find in a different keyboard—but to see this as just a keyboard is to fail to recognize the broader context. Not only are we participating in a subculture that drives up the value of products beyond their material worth, but the competition actually isn’t what you’re saying it is.
TL;DR: Apple’s actually charging less for this than any other high-quality options in the market.
True.
But you can be judgmental without being rude, as in your response to @Wolfie above.
Pricing is something that has really changed over time.
I first purchased a computer for myself when I was in graduate school. It was an IBM Thinkpad 700. Monochrome screen, 6.5 pounds, 80 MB (yes, MB, not GB) hard drive. 4 MB of memory.
I don’t think I paid the full price mentioned here, so I probably didn’t get it until several months after it launched. But I do remember paying well over $2,000 US for it.
Too true. Things have gotten cheaper—though I suspect that the tablet PCs I mention would be about the same price as the iPad Pro package now. (These purchases were “only” about 10 years ago.) Even buying something barely as performant still costs CDN $1,000.
I’m guessing that some folks are appalled at paying $99 for the Apple Magic Keyboard and $129 for a Magic Trackpad for a total for a total of $158. Then forgetting to pack it up at a hotel and leaving it. Then buying a new KB and trackpad all over again.
The KB+trackpad would total $158. Add an iPad case and it’ll come close to $200.
No one is getting their arm twisted into buying this. I’ll reserve my opinion until I actually have one in my hands and use t for a couple of weeks.
I think this underscores that Apple didn’t want to hamstring the tablet from being the best bare tablet possible, while also offering a great, portable docking solution. Given that the center of gravity cannot be on the bottom like a laptop, this is a well thought out solution. Not perfect, but certainly a better all-in-one solution than anything else around yet.
For many years for windows the thumb rule was you wanted to pay about $1200 for a laptop for a mainstream business user.
I haven’t kept track of that since I switched to Mac in 2007 and I suspect the sweet spot may be much lower than $1200 now.
Yes, we do need dissenting opinions in a debate, but
Is not a fact that you state. It’s your opinion, as is very often, in our times, prefaced by the sentence “I’m just stating the facts”.
You dislike the device, the pricing and probably iOS, which is perfectly fine and there are many valid reasons to do so, but these are not facts.
An agency client of mine buys low-to-mid-range Dell’s with a street price around $900-$1,000.
Now that I have the iPad Pro 12.9" for about a month, and am using it with separate keyboard and trackpad, I am understanding a casual statement Myke Hurley made on a podcast.
He was talking about adding an external display to a 12.9" iPad, and he stopped himself and said he realized how ridiculous that sounds – going through workarounds to turn an iPad into a halfway decent desktop computer, when you’ve got a GREAT desktop right there.
But (he said) he just prefers to work on iOS.
I get that now.
There are a lot of things you can’t do on an iPad, but for the things you CAN do, the iPad just gets out of your way and lets you do them, more so than on the Mac. (And even before the iPad, the Mac’s great virtue has always been that it’s less in-your-face than Windows.)
As for me, I’m still addicted to this 27" display at my desk.
@platyhsu - thanks for your review. I’ve just started looking at the Magic Keyboard and my first thought was, “hmmm, doesn’t look like I can flip it all the way around like I do with my Smart Keyboard.” That means I can’t rest it on my leg and write notes in meetings (if I ever go back to in-person meetings, that is).
Looks like I don’t need to bother now; thanks for saving me the hassle.
Give the Logitech Slim Folio Pro a look - they don’t have a trackpad, but do allow you to fold the keyboard behind to use it in “tablet mode”. I also think the key feel is just as good if not better than the Apple one. It also has a function row.
Does it work over BT or Smart Connector? Does it utilize magnets or have to click into a case?
I just placed my order for the 12.9" iPad Magic Keyboard. I’m hoping my delivery moves up as well. 
I am returning it today. Pros: excellent keyboard and trackpad, easy connect and disconnect. I am not bothered by the inability to fold it under, if absolutely necessary (eg to prevent the camera bump from marring a surface) I could put the folded device under the ipad and work that way.
But the trackpad stopped working after a day, and even a hard reboot was unable to fix it (and neither was Apple Support).
I think this is a great device if you spend a significant amount of time using the iPad as a laptop replacement. I spend much of my time on the iPad annotated PDFs with the pencil. The keyboard folio doesn’t bring me joy to use, and sometimes a keypress doesn’t register, but it is just good enough. YMMV.