Patents confirm Apple has already looked into such tech

Aug 25, 2017 06:05 GMT  ·  By

Even though Apple initially played down the return of the stylus and laughed off Microsoft when the software giant launched the Surface tablet with a Surface Pen, Cupertino is now betting big on this little accessory and wants to expand its availability beyond the iPad Pro.

Future iPhone models could come with Pencil support, new patents discovered by PatentlyApple seem to suggest, as Apple is already working on the technology to make this possible.

Apple looking into ways to bring the Pencil on the iPhone is not a new thing, as CEO Tim Cook himself praised the mix, suggesting last year that adding support for the stylus was something the company was exploring at that point. “If you’ve ever seen what can be created with that pencil on an iPad or an iPhone, it’s really unbelievable,” he said.

Fast forward one year later and it looks like work on bringing the Pencil to the iPhone advances nicely, with Apple describing in a patent called “Noise Correction for a Stylus Touch Device” that smartphones are among devices supported by its stylus.

The iPhone is finally listed as a target product for the Apple Pencil, even though no other specifics were provided for the time being.

iPhone Pro with Pencil support?

What’s important to note is that patents are no guarantee that technologies would ever see daylight, but Apple does seem to be looking into this direction with the Pencil and the iPhone. iOS 11, which will go live next month, already comes with expanded Pencil support, including options to create annotations on websites and edit screenshots.

Furthermore, corroborated with previous reports indicated that a Pro SKU of the iPhone was in the works, such a project does make sense. Apple has reportedly looked into bringing several iPad features to the iPhone, including support for accessories with the Smart Connector, and a supposed iPhone Pro was said to be the exclusive model borrowing all of these.

A Pro version of the iPhone could see daylight next year, as the 2017 lineup includes two upgrades to the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus, as well as a completely new model called iPhone 8/iPhone X.