On the Positioning of the Lightning Port on the Magic Mouse 2 ⇥ medium.com

Two of three devices in Apple’s new “Magic” accessory lineup are capable of being used while charging; one, the Magic Mouse, is not. Why? Because the charging port is on the bottom. And it looks as ridiculous as you think.

The real reason why this is is almost certainly because hardware engineering couldn’t figure out a way of placing the Lightning port along the top edge of the device, as would be logical. But my crazy theory on this is that this is intentional to make sure people use it as a wireless mouse and don’t leave it plugged in all the time.

If you think I’m wrong, here’s what Anil Dash says:

… the end result would be that, while charging, the mouse would still be fully functional; indeed, this mode would still be so useful that a lot of folks (myself included!) would just use it as a corded mouse most of the time and only unplug when needed.

I bet that this elicits something of a deep, frustrated sigh in parts of Cupertino.

This isn’t a massive deal logically; reviewers have pointed out that an exceptionally short charge time will last the entire day. You could plug it in while making coffee in the morning and have enough charge for a few days by the time you’re finished. But that’s not really Apple’s style, and the end result is a part of a product that is truly ridiculous.