The Logitech Flip Folio is a protecting keyboard case and stand for iPad Professional and iPad Air fashions that goes head-to-head in opposition to the Apple Magic Keyboard. Having examined each, Logitech’s new providing comes out forward of Apple’s is a few methods, together with wider help for display orientations, and since the keyboard can separate from the case/stand. Plus, a hefty value benefit can’t be ignored.
Remember to learn the complete overview for extra particulars.
Logitech Flip Folio overview
The most effective issues a few pill is how simply it might rework right into a laptop computer. You’ll be able to lean again on the sofa along with your iPad to scroll via your feeds, then later connect a keyboard case and be taught ahead to write down emails for work or end a paper for sophistication.
A broadly used choice for that is the Apple Magic Keyboard for iPad. However this has a brand new rival, the Logitech Flip Folio, that comes out forward in just a few methods.
Each provide a stand to carry up your pill and a keyboard to sort on. They’re additionally circumstances to guard your laptop while you’re on the transfer. I’ve used variations of the Magic Keyboard for years, and have examined the Flip Folio for weeks, so I can evaluate them head-to-head… and level out the place Logitech’s product wins. Causes No. 2 and No. 4 are my favorites.
Snaps on by way of magnets
Logitech Flip Folio keyboard case (13 inch)
When not in use, this Bluetooth keyboard case snaps magnetically onto 13-inch iPad Professional (M4) or 13-inch iPad Air (M2, M3). Works with a number of gadgets.
- Protecting iPad case
- Keyboard stows magnetically
- Matches many iPads, however remember to examine earlier than shopping for
Desk of contents: Logitech Flip Folio overview
1. Keyboard will be separated from case
Picture: Logitech
To begin the comparability, take into account the Apple Magic Keyboard. It’s a clamshell. Open it up, put the pill on one facet, and there’s a keyboard and trackpad on the opposite.
However the Logitech Flip Folio makes use of a really totally different design. It begins with a wrap-around folio case — therefore the identify. The keyboard isn’t contained in the case. It’s a standard-alone unit that magnetically attaches to the again of the case while you’re carrying your laptop round.
To begin typing, take away the keyboard from the case and put it in your desk. Then flip the entrance flap of the case round behind the pill and bend it right into a stand.
One of many benefits of this strategy is that you just don’t want to hold across the keyboard while you aren’t planning on utilizing it. The Logitech Flip Folio is usually a easy case and stand. That’s not doable with the Apple Magic Keyboard, because the keyboard is built-in into the system.
The profit is weight. With out its keyboard, the Flip Folio weighs 1.36 kilos, in comparison with the 1.46 kilos of Apple’s keyboard case.
However there’s a draw back: the keyboard weighs 0.45 kilos, so Logitech’s product weighs greater than Apple’s with the keyboard hooked up.
2. Place the keyboard wherever
Picture: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac
A possible saving on weight isn’t the one benefit to the Logitech Flip Folio’s design. As a result of the keyboard isn’t constructed into the case, you may place it nevertheless you want. You’ll be able to put your iPad on a desk and lean again and sort on the keyboard in your lap, for instance. Or simply transfer the pill just a few inches again so it and the keyboard aren’t crowded collectively. Or put the keyboard apart when watching video.
With Apple’s providing, the keyboard is all the time proper beneath the iPad display — you may’t transfer one with out the opposite. Ergonomically, it’s a multitude, with the display a lot too low, and the keyboard and show jammed collectively. (In fact, that is additionally true for MacBooks and different laptops, which is why I don’t use a conventional laptop computer except I need to.)
Not solely is the keyboard included with Logitech’s case/stand positionable, it’s a great one. I’m testing the model for the 13-inch iPad Professional M4, and it’s large sufficient to be simple to sort on. The keys are the usual measurement for laptops, and a row of perform keys make controlling the music enjoying on the iPad as simple as pushing a button.
3. Bluetooth pair with iPad and extra
As a result of the Logitech Flip Folio’s keyboard isn’t linked to the case, it makes use of Bluetooth for wi-fi connectivity. As a bonus characteristic, after you pair it along with your iPad, you can even Bluetooth pair it along with your iPhone or one other laptop.
It could wirelessly join with as much as three gadgets, then change between them on the press of a button. This implies your partner or coworker may share this keyboard on a visit.
4. Display in panorama or portrait
Picture: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac
Just about all iPad keyboard circumstances share one other disadvantage with laptops: the pc’s display is all the time in panorama mode. That is true for the Apple Magic Keyboard. Not solely are you able to not sort with the iPad in portrait mode, you may’t use the stand in portrait mode both.
The Logitech Flip Folio is an exception. Flip the entrance cowl round, bend it right into a stand, and it’s prepared to carry your iPad in panorama mode. However you can even pull the pill unfastened, flip it to portrait mode, and put it again on the stand. Magnets and a small shelf throughout the underside of the stand maintain the pc in both panorama or portrait mode.
The extra flexibility is welcome. I run throughout web sites and occasional apps which can be simpler to make use of in portrait mode, and having the choice to additionally use that orientation is good.
5. Logitech Flip Folio prices a lot much less
The Apple Magic Keyboard for iPad is a superb piece of equipment, however the one for the 13-inch iPad Professional prices $349. In distinction, the model of the Logitech Flip Folio for that very same iPad prices $179.99. That’s a whopping $169 much less — virtually half the associated fee.
The place the 2 iPad keyboard circumstances tie
There aren‘t all the time winners and losers. In some elements, neither Logitech’s nor Apple’s iPad keyboard circumstances is within the lead.
Sadly, the supplies each are coated in are ugly. The Flip Folio makes use of a plastic casing that’s useful however unattractive. The identical goes for one of many coloration choices for the Magic Keyboard: darkish grey blah. The opposite coloration choice is white, which appears higher till it will get soiled. There’s no winner right here… but. Logitech guarantees that pale gray, lilac and sand colorways will arrive in September 2025. Regional availability might range by coloration, although.
And at last, whereas the rival equipment use very totally different designs, and each prop up your iPad so it’s simple to see, neither helps very large viewing angles. The Magic Keyboard received’t allow you to tilt the display again very far, and the Flip Folio can’t maintain the display very near vertical.
The place the Apple Magic Keyboard for iPad wins
Picture: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac
Though the Logitech Flip Folio actually has benefits, it doesn’t dominate this competitors.
Most clearly, it doesn’t have a trackpad. In order for you one, you’ll have to produce your individual. Alternatively, if you happen to’d quite use a mouse or the iPad’s touchscreen, the trackpad constructed into Apple’s keyboard/case is a waste.
Regardless of the ugly exterior, Apple comes out forward in appears. The cantilevered form of the Apple Magic Keyboard that leaves the iPad apparently floating over the keyboard… genius.
Additionally, nobody however Apple has been in a position to make a keyboard case that provides a second USB-C port to the iPad. The one on the Magic Keyboard can solely be used for energy, although.
And at last, the Magic Keyboard has backlit keys, which the Flip Folio doesn’t. In any other case, the keyboards are very, very comparable.
Logitech Flip Folio overview: Closing ideas
Picture: Logitech
As good because the Apple Magic Keyboard for iPad is, its $350 value places it out of the vary of loads of shoppers. It’s lucky that the Logitech Flip Folio is stable competitors, contemplating it prices roughly half as a lot. A keyboard that may be positioned the place snug, or left behind, is a major benefit.
★★★★☆
Pricing
The Flip Folio works with iPad Professional fashions that includes the M4 chip (each 11-inch and 13-inch) and iPad Air fashions with M2 and M3 chips (11-inch and 13-inch), in addition to the M1 iPad Air (fifth technology).
The 13-inch model goes for $179.99. The 11-inch variant prices $159.99.
Purchase from Amazon: Midnight black, 11-inch or midnight black, 13 inch
Snaps on by way of magnets
Logitech Flip Folio keyboard case (13 inch)
When not in use, this Bluetooth keyboard case snaps magnetically onto 13-inch iPad Professional (M4) or 13-inch iPad Air (M2, M3). Works with a number of gadgets.
- Protecting iPad case
- Keyboard stows magnetically
- Matches many iPads, however remember to examine earlier than shopping for
Logitech offered Cult of Mac with a overview unit for this text. See our opinions coverage, and take a look at extra in-depth opinions of Apple-related objects.
