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Report: Apple Pencil 3 With Magnetic Tips Likely to Be Announced Instead of New iPads
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I take it the first gen pencil didn’t always come with the adapter in the box?
Because mine, bought in 2020, did. And I never charged it by sticking it into the iPad’s lightning port. I charged with my phone charger, thanks to the adapter that came in the box.
If the new iPad's (non Pro) are only refreshed chipwise without major changes, I think it's pretty understandable that not much has leaked so far. I am betting on new iPads (non-pro). A new Pencil, I think, will be released alongside new iPad Pro's.
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If they're going to do what Microsoft are doing with the Surface Pen then I'm all up for it.
Switching tips was super easy (not that it's hard on the Apple Pencil) because you just pull them out and stick the new one in.
And they feel very distinct, all three of them.
Switching tips was super easy (not that it's hard on the Apple Pencil) because you just pull them out and stick the new one in.
And they feel very distinct, all three of them.
It did. Since the 10th gen iPad came out it also comes with a USB-C to Lightning adapter so it can be paired with the device. That part is silly when they just could have allowed the second generation pencil to work with the new iPad.
Their whole productportfolio and release schemes is a mess. I would not be surprised if they release a Pencil 4 AFTER the iPad M3s.
That's how it usually is.
However, a different strategy could be releasing new spec bumped Air and mini and making Apple Pencil 3 only compatible with these and the M2 iPads Pro.
-Current Air and mini are Bluetooth 5.0. So Pencil 3 will be incompatible with < Bluetooth 5.3 iPads.
This would be an effective but low cost way to push a good number of iPad sales in late 2023 and early 2024.
Then, when the Pencil 3 hype has died down, Apple can drop the M3 iPad Pro in late Q1 or early Q2 2024 and (yet again) push more iPad upgrades and sales.
This strategy would definitely see a lot more sales than simply putting out an M3 iPad and Pencil 3 right now all at once.
Think about it: The M3 iPad Pro doesn't need a new Pencil to land a sale with most buyers. So releasing a Pencil 3 now to boost iPad sales for the holidays and early 2024 makes total sense.
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Should have a clicky button on the end you press to change tips.
There’s no chance Apple is going to release a new style of pencil for the old iPad.. they’ll keep them as “M3 exclusive” or whatever to force you to upgrade next year lol.
Yes, it did - you could always use the adapter and a cable to charge it from a USB-A socket. The idea of the USB plug was that you could fast-charge it from an iPad (in a ridiculously vulnerable arrangement that could put a huge amount of strain on the iPad's Lightning socket).
The complaint is not really about it being unusable - just that it was an epic failure of attention to detail from a company that prides itself on good design.
- you had a tiny adapter and a tiny cap to lose, on a mobile device.
- they could have combined the cap and adapter
- or, they could have had a socket in the Pencil and a male-to-male lightning cable, which would have taken the strain off the iPad
- or, considering that the Pencil only worked with the (then) new iPad Pro which had added a new magnetic smart connector, they could have, you know, actually made the Pencil use the new magnetic Smart Connector...?
Plus, they could have added an off switch so that the Pencil didn't turn itself into landfill if you didn't use it for a few months. Maybe made it hexagonal so it didn't roll off the table (something that regular pencil manufacturers worked out a century ago)... Or maybe include some sort of Pencil storage in the keyboard cases that came out at the same time...?
Or - and here's the puzzler, if they weren't going to make it compatible with old iPads, have it inductively powered from the digitiser (like Wacom tablets, Samsung phones/tablets etc.) so that they didn't need a battery in the pencil...
Or maybe the greatest design minds in the world could come up with better ideas than mine, but apparently they didn't try. It was really just a particularly lazy bit of design that seems to have happened in a different silo to the iPad design.
Agreed, it is more exciting.
I suppose the mass confusion (from leakers) is a function of Apple's subterfuge and misdirection.
A design feature of the original Pencil is that it is weighted off-center to minimize rolling. The weight is positioned so that the logo always faces up when at rest, a very Apple thing. But the second generation is much better with its flat edge.