Do you want to know the secret behind the new SmartCover covers? Well, iFixIt did a teardown of them too and behind the covers are hidden no less than 21 magnets that fix the accessory on the iPad 2 tablet. Do you think that only 21 magnets "work" to bring us the magic of the "smart cover"? Well, no, because inside the iPad 2 tablet there are 10 more magnets, after which the cover aligns itself. The magnet on the left side of the cover aligns exactly on the tablet surface so that everything is perfectly aligned and the closing/opening system of the tablet works perfectly. A total of 31 magnets work to produce the "magic" shown by Steve Jobs at the iPad 2 presentation.
Now you will ask how the new closing/opening system of the tablet works, right? In iPad 2 there is a sleep sensor that interacts with a magnet of the cover and when the magnet approaches the tablet closes and when it is far away the tablet opens automatically. This sensor is placed on the right side of the tablet where it closes and is accompanied by 4 more magnets that keep the cover glued to the tablet when it is closed. Interestingly, this case has 15 magnets placed on the right side and a piece of metal placed on the left side that fixes the device when we use the case as a stand. SmartCover is an extremely interesting accessory for iPad 2 owners and will certainly generate a lot of sales.
- There are a total of THIRTY ONE magnets inside the iPad 2 and Smart Cover: 10 magnets in the iPad 2, and a whopping 21 magnets inside the Smart Cover. They're the reason why the cover works so well with the iPad 2.
- We used magnetic viewing film to reveal the magnets before taking our stuff apart. The film has special properties that allow it to react to a magnet's poles, and it worked wonders in showing the magnets hidden beneath the Smart Cover and iPad 2.
- Unfortunately, none of the 31 magnets inside the devices had any special properties. All of them were the standard, two-pole kind, but they were arrayed in such a way that made clamping the Smart Cover to the iPad 2 quite easy.
- The Smart Cover has one dedicated magnet that turns off the iPad 2's screen. The rest are used to either clamp to the iPad on the right side (the far-right column of magnets), or to form the triangular shape used to create a stand for the iPad 2.
- A steel plate on the far-left side of the Smart Cover attaches to 15 of the cover's magnets (on the far-right) in order to form the triangular base.
- The far-right row of magnets clamps the Smart Cover to the iPad 2. The magnets in the iPad 2 had their polarity displayed: + – + – . The alternating polarity of the magnets in the iPad 2 was complemented by the opposite alternating polarity of the magnets in the Smart Cover (- + – +), ensuring that the Smart Cover always sits in the same orientation on the iPad 2.
- There's also a row of magnets on the left side of both products. The iPad 2's magnets are actually encased into the side of the device, and are used to securely clamp the iPad 2 to the
- Smart Cover's frame. Interestingly, these magnets' polarities were manually marked — a blue dash written with a marker — instead of having a machine stamp/engrave the polarity into them.
- It turns out that the Smart Cover doesn't work nearly as well once you remove the magnets, steel plate, and plastic structural supports. Go figures!
You can find a photo gallery here.
