If you’ve been looking for one of the best iPads, then one of your considerations might be a stylus — the Apple Pencil, the company’s popular stylus for tablets, lets you sketch, take notes, and navigate easily on iPadOS .
Since its initial launch, the Apple Pencil for iPad has gone through two different iterations—the original version launched in 2015, and the second-generation model launched in 2018 for newer iPads. The two versions of the iPad stylus work in harmony and work with different types of iPads, but one change in the new iPad (2022) could ruin it all.
Apple Pencil Problem
Despite being a popular accessory, the original iPad was not without its problems. First, it charges in an odd way: You have to remove a cover from the end of it and plug it into the Lightning port on the iPad.
After doing this, you have to insert the stylus into the tablet at an odd angle for an extended period of time, which means there is a significant risk of accidentally stepping into the extended Pencil and disconnecting the charging plug from the rest.
It’s one of Apple’s design decisions that is ruthlessly mocked, like a wireless mouse with a plug on the bottom. No wonder the Apple Pencil 2 is more popular because it uses magnets to attach to the top of the iPad for wireless charging.
The rise of the Apple Pencil 2
Over the years, the Apple Pencil 2 has been adopted by more and more iPads, including the Pro, Air, and 2021 Mini series. The reason is simple: Lightning ports are gradually disappearing from iPads. The Air line lost its port in 2020, and the Mini lost it in 2021. Now only the entry-level model remains.
Without the Lightning connector, the original Apple Pencil has no easy way to charge it; unless you’re willing to fiddle with the various adapters and dongles Apple has sold in the past. The shift to USB-C comes with a design overhaul of the iPad to facilitate charging the Apple Pencil 2 with a magnetic clip.
USB-C iPad (2022)
A new leak suggests that Apple’s 2022 entry-level iPad may get a USB-C port instead of Lightning. That would make it the last iPad line to ditch Apple’s proprietary charging technology, although the iPhone still uses it.
If this were to happen, the first-generation Apple Pencil would be completely redundant. There’s no new iPad to promote it, making it very likely that Apple will retire old gadgets.
Unlike the iPhone, Apple doesn’t sell the previous-generation iPad, so it doesn’t need to keep accessories to support different tablets. Sure, some third-party retailers may have the original Apple Pencil in stock, but if Apple does go all-in on USB-C, the stylus’s days are numbered.
The future of Apple Pencil 3
Apple is no stranger to discontinuing its technology. It basically does this every year when a new iteration of its annual product comes out — and the original, clunky Apple Pencil eventually had to go.
Still, being the first-ever Apple Pencil, it would be big news if the company did retire it.
If Apple only makes one stylus, we’d like to see its future and launch the Apple Pencil 3. The controls of the second-gen stylus are rather clunky, and there aren’t as many useful features as the Samsung S Pen, and there’s a lot Apple could do with it to improve.
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