14 DAY TRIAL // It turns out that Microsoft was indeed right when it said that the traditional stylus has its own place in the future, and by the looks of it, Apple now fully agrees with its long-time rival.
The upcoming iPad Pro, which is projected to be unveiled later today, is likely to come with a new-generation Apple Pencil that would feature all kinds of new gimmicks, more or less making the Surface Pen rather aged.
Microsoft has put a lot of effort into making the Surface Pen the most advanced stylus on the market, but if today’s leak is accurate, Apple could turn the Apple Pencil into one innovative accessory that many people are going to love.
Ben Geskin has published a photo showing the alleged Apple Pencil 2 next to the upgraded iPad Pro, while also revealing that the design of the device is much simpler, with the silver rail on top completely removed.
Furthermore, it looks like Apple has included gesture support for the Pencil, with Tap and Swipe currently offered for this model. There’s a chance users will be allowed to configure each gesture, though they could also be pre-defined for specific apps.
Wireless charging
What’s truly great on this new Pencil is that it attaches to the iPad using a magnetic support and it can also charge wirelessly directly from the tablet. This means whenever you carry the tablet around with the Pencil attached, it gets more juice from the device, though it remains to be seen how much it’s going to take for a full charge to be completed.
Given this new functionality, certain features of the Apple Pencil 2, like the wireless charging, may only be available on the new iPad Pro, but on the other hand, support for the rest of the goodies could be offered on previous models too.
Full details will be unveiled in just a few hours during Apple’s press event, which we bet will be watched by Redmond-based rival Microsoft as well.