Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Mobile
  3. News

Second-generation Apple Pencil writes a new chapter for device

By

The new iPad Pro, MacBook Air, and Mac Mini may have stolen the show at Apple’s Mac hardware event, but they weren’t the only announcements the company made. Alongside the new iPad Pro, Apple also took the wraps off of a new second-generation Apple Pencil to go with it.

The Apple Pencil 2 offers a number of new features, including that it charges wirelessly — meaning you don’t have to plug it in to the Lightning port, which you wouldn’t be able to do now anyway given the fact that the new iPad Pro features a USB-C port instead. To charge the new Apple Pencil, you simply need to attach it magnetically to the side of the new iPad Pro. That’s also how you pair it — snap it to the side of the iPad Pro, and it should pair automatically. When you do, a drop-down bubble will appear on the iPad Pro, showing the battery percentage of the Apple Pencil.

Recommended Videos

There are a few major things that make the new Apple Pencil different from the original, which launched in 2015. Apart from different charging methods, the new Apple Pencil also has a slightly different design, offering a flat side rather than a totally round build. That flat side, presumably, allows the device to more easily attach to the iPad Pro.

Please enable Javascript to view this content

The new Apple Pencil also offers a few tweaks that make it more functional. For example, it now supports gestures like the ability to tap twice to perform certain tasks. In notes, tapping twice will switch the Pencil to the eraser tool — and tapping twice again will switch back to the previous tool.

The price of the new Apple Pencil is different from the old one too. The device comes in at $130, which is $30 more expensive than the previous-generation Apple Pencil. Unfortunately, the new Apple Pencil isn’t compatible with earlier-generation iPad Pros, either. That’s to say, if you order a new iPad Pro you won’t be able to use your old Apple Pencil with it — and if you like the idea of the new Apple Pencil, you won’t be able to use it with your old iPad Pro. That’s a pretty major bummer for Apple Pencil users who still like their old one.

Editors’ Recommendations

Topics
Christian de Looper
Christian de Looper
Contributor
Christian de Looper is a long-time freelance writer who has covered every facet of the consumer tech and electric vehicle…
I got an Apple Pencil Pro for my new iPad and found a big problem
An Apple Pencil Pro being held in a person's left hand with squeeze controls showing on an iPad mini 7 on top of a MacBook Pro keyboard.

Apple has brought some impressive improvements to this year’s iPad lineup. From an “impossibly thin” and powerful M4 iPad Pro to the Apple Intelligence-equipped iPad mini 7, there’s something here for everyone.

However, one of the unsung heroes of the lineup is the new Apple Pencil Pro, an advanced stylus with several new gestures that work hand in hand with Apple’s tablets to make drawing, sketching, and even just scribbling notes more intuitive than ever.

Read more
Apple Intelligence is coming to these languages in April
Apple Intelligence on the Apple iPhone 16 Plus.

Public access to certain features of Apple Intelligence is rolling out to users with the iOS 18.1, iPadOS 18.1, and macOS 15.1 updates. However, even if you are fortunate enough to gain early access, the service is currently only available in U.S. English in select countries. That is expected to change in the coming weeks and months.

According to GSMArena, Apple plans to add local English variants in Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa, and the U.K. in December. Most recently, it was confirmed that starting in April and continuing throughout 2025, Apple Intelligence will gain support for Chinese, English (India), English (Singapore), French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish, and Vietnamese. April is also when the EU will see its first Apple Intelligence release.

Read more
You’ll have to wait a while longer for a new base model iPad
The iPad (2022) in its yellow color.

Apple has had a busy year on the iPad front. Just last week, the company announced the iPad mini (2024). In the spring, it launched next-generation versions of the iPad Air (2024) and iPad Pro (2024). The entry-level iPad is the only model that hasn’t been refreshed this year — and it probably won’t be.

According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, Apple won’t announce a new regular-sized iPad until 2025. As such, we’ll probably see the 11th-generation iPad arrive in the first half of the year alongside the long-rumored iPhone SE 4 and next-generation iPad Air versions.

Read more