ESR announces its first magnetic keyboard case and it's for the new iPad Air 5

Esr Ascend Ipad Air 5 Keyboard Case (Image credit: ESR)

What you need to know

ESR has a new keyboard case designed for the new iPad Air 5.
The keyboard case includes a trackpad and detachable shell.
Users can expect up to two months of battery life.

The popular accessory maker ESR has announced a new keyboard case designed for the updated iPad Air.

While it may be marketed specifically as an iPad Air 5 accessory, ESR's first magnetic keyboard case is also compatible with the older iPad Air as well as Apple's 11-inch iPad Pro, making it a versatile little thing. It's only available in black, unfortunately, but it does come with an integrated trackpad and full Apple Pencil support, so there's that.

Unlike some similar cases and keyboards, the ESR Ascend Keyboard Case can also support the iPad being stood in portrait mode while typing, something that is a huge deal for people who want to be able to write on something that looks more like a piece of paper than a screen. Old typewriter vibes, anyone?

Magnetic mounting allows you to swap easily between portrait and landscape orientations. Easily edit documents without needing to use split-screen mode or join that Zoom meeting in an optimal orientation.

That built-in trackpad supports multi-touch and the keyboard has seven different backlight colors and three brightness modes for people to choose from. All of that's impressive indeed, as is the two-month battery life and USB-C charging.

Even with the keyboard removed the Ascend Keyboard Case offers protection thanks to the detachable shell and overall this looks like a worthy option for people who need a keyboard for their iPad, but don't always want to carry it around.

The new Ascend Keyboard Case is available for order now and is priced at $79.99. This could be one of the best iPad keyboards we've seen yet.

Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too. Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.

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