Apple announced a new, more affordable Apple Pencil sporting USB-C that’s set to arrive in early November.
The new Apple Pencil (USB-C) will work with all iPads sporting a USB-C port and offers several (but not all) of the features in the 1st- and 2nd-gen Apple Pencils. Per a chart on Apple’s website, the Apple Pencil (USB-C) offers precise drawing, low latency, tilt sensitivity, the ability to attach magnetically to an iPad, and the ‘hover’ feature on M2-equipped iPad Pros.
However, the USB-C Pencil also lacks some notable features, including pressure sensitivity, wireless pairing and charging (though this is offset slightly by the addition of USB-C), and the ability to double-tap the pencil to swap tools.
A sliding cap at the end of the Apple Pencil (USB-C) reveals the USB-C port. Moreover, Apple says that when attached to an iPad, the new Pencil enters a sleep state to preserve battery life.
The Apple Pencil (USB-C) will be available early in November and will start at $109. That puts it quite a bit below the 2nd-gen Pencil ($169) and the 1st-gen Pencil ($129).
Arguably, the new, cheaper Pencil further complicates Apple’s already weird iPad and accessory options. It seems to me like a near-perfect replacement for the 1st-gen Apple Pencil, and yet Apple is keeping the 1st-gen around for now. The main difference between the two is pressure sensitivity and the USB-C port, with the 1st-gen Pencil charging via Lightning instead.
You can learn more about the new Apple Pencil (USB-C) here.
Image credit: Apple
