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New iPad May Not Work With Older Smart Covers

Some owners of the new iPad are reporting that they are having problems getting older Smart Covers to work.

It doesn’t seem to affect everyone, however users that are experiencing the issue are complaining that their iPad will not turn off or on as it should when the cover is placed over the device.

It has been discovered that the reason some of these covers are not working is due to the polarity of the magnets. The iPad 2 uses magnetic sensors around the right side of the display that are triggered when the magnets inside the Smart Cover come into contact with the iPad. However, these magnets are not polarity specific, this means that they could be triggered by either the North or South side of a magnet.

However Apple discovered that by having a non-specific polarity on the iPad 2, it could cause problems when the Smart Cover was folded behind the iPad, resulting in the screen being turned off.

Because of this, Apple decided to use a specific polarity on the new iPad. However in doing so, it has created problems for users with older Smart Covers because not all of them have the magnets facing the correct way, as it didn’t matter on the iPad 2. This is why that when used with the new iPad, the Smart Cover  may or may not work, depending on the way the magnet was installed during production.

As well as affecting third-party manufactures, the issue was also present for some older official Smart Covers from Apple. The Cupertino company become aware of the problem towards the end of last year and quickly started to produce new updated Smart Covers which were correctly aligned.

Unfortunately though, if you have a third-party Smart Cover that doesnt currently work with your new iPad, the only option would be to replace it. However, if you have an official one from Apple, it has been reported that they have agreed to replace it free of charge with the new updated version.

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