It’s Not a Stylus, It’s an Apple Pencil

Steve Jobs once asked, “Who wants a stylus?” That was way back in 2007 — yes, it has been that long. “You have to get ‘em, put ‘em away, you lose ‘em. Yuck! Nobody wants a stylus. So let’s not use a stylus.”

With the announcement of the upcoming iPad Pro, Apple is also releasing the tablet’s sibling accessory, the Apple Pencil. This digital stylus is not the same as the ones previously used on the Palm handheld. While there are third-party companies making styluses for the iPad, they are either used with external writing surfaces or suffer noticeable latency, taking away the feeling of touching pen to paper.

The Apple Pencil will offer a more natural feel, thanks to artistic engineering. Pressure and angle detection enable users to control the darkness and shape of the pen strokes, while a Bluetooth connection ensures minimal latency so you can see what you’re drawing in real time. Apple also claims the sensors give the device a super-precise sensitivity, down to just one pixel.

© Apple | iPad Pro

A removable cap reveals a male lightning connector, which will give the Pencil 30 minutes of power after just 15 minutes of charging. A full charge lasts 12 hours, making the device a perfect fit for artists who like to sketch on the road but don’t want to lug around a bulky Wacom tablet.

The Apple Pencil will only work with the upcoming iPad Pro; both are set to release this November.